Melody Barnes: Smells Like Teen Spirit
by JanaeSpecter14
Summary: SHIELD is gone, but the Avengers continue their mission to stomp out all of HYDRA. But they want to end the fight and go home. Especially Melody as her future with Clint progresses. Ultron is created, but what was first seen as a safety turns into their worst nightmare. Seventh installment in the Melody Barnes series (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
1. The Enhanced

_**"I'm worst at what I do best, and for this gift, I feel blessed. Our little group has always been and always will until the end. Hello, hello, hello, how low? With the lights out, it's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious. Here we are now, entertain us."**_

 _ **Smells Like Teen Spirit, covered by Malia J**_

Natasha drove while Clint was in the back shooting off arrows at every HYDRA agent he could see. Tony was flanking the two in his suit just as Natasha kicked one of the agents in the face. A HYDRA truck pulled up right next to them with their guns aimed at Natasha and Clint, giving Thor the perfect time to throw the men off of it. Melody was on top of one of the lookouts, just finishing her job of knocking out all the guys before jumping down, landing perfectly in the Humvee Thor had cleared for her.

She got in the driver's seat before nodding to Thor, letting him know she was all set. Sure, Thor was adjusting to life on earth, but he hadn't mastered driving yet. He could keep the wheel steady and that was all Melody could trust him with.

He flew out of the truck, Steve passing by him while he knocked out a few agents. Steve ended up throwing his shield into one of the trucks at a perfect angle so it would explode. That left the Hulk picking it up and throwing it at a few HYDRA agents off to the side, thinking that they could avoid the Hulk.

Melody and Natasha were driving side by side before getting to the barricade, angling them just right before jumping out right into the battlefield. And for a split second, they were all side by side, ready to kick some HYDRA ass.

Tony flew to the building he believed HYDRA was located in when he quickly realized there was a force field around it. "Shit!"

"Language!" Melody stopped what she was doing after she hear that. Did Steve really just try to censor Tony Stark? Clint did the same as her, the two giving each other a little look before getting back to fighting. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of…energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond anything of a HYDRA base we've taken."

"Tony," Melody called on the ear piece. "I'm joining you."

Clint turned to look at her wide eyed at that suggestion. "You sure? Can you do that yet?"

Melody looked up at the sky with a deep breath. "Well, today's the perfect day to try."

"It's all in the calves." Thor suggested on the intercom.

Melody looked to where he was fighting a few yards away from them. "Thank you, Thor."

Melody took another deep breath before squatting and pushing off the ground, sending her into the air as Clint and Natasha took a break from fighting to watch her, and then look down at the dent she had made in the snow. They both began to think back on the fact that no one knew she was a super solider for most of her life, but she had practically mastered all the powers that came with it. Even Captain America couldn't do that.

"Loki's scepter must be here," When Thor spoke, they brought their attention back to what was in front of them and continued with the fight. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it." Thor threw his hammer at one of the men who was trying to go after him, but it easily found its way back into Thor's fist. "At long last."

Natasha threw a missile in one of the trucks and then hurried out before it could blow. Once she was finally far enough away from the truck so she wouldn't be in the blast radius, she turned back to her ear piece. "'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys." Natasha then noticed a man trying to creep up on her so she turned around and shot him point blank like it was no big deal.

"Yeah," Clint scoffed, ducking behind a tree again to avoid a bullet. "I think we lost the element of surprise."

Melody finally landed, but she was still off from the building, she ended up landing right in front of it. "Damn it!" She cursed loudly.

"What, Barnes?" Clint asked while continuing to shoot off arrows, one right after the other. "Didn't quite make it?"

"No." Melody spoke while kicking a stone close by.

"That's all right, kiddo." Tony spoke like her mistake wasn't a huge deal, but Melody rolled her eyes, knowing he was just saying that because he was her father and he had to. "You just have to map it out better next time. Maybe work on an equation to assure you land in the right spot."

Melody shrugged, knowing it wasn't a bad idea before going the rest of the way on foot. "Wait a second," Tony spoke in remembrance, surprised that he had to be the first one to bring this up. "No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said, 'language'?"

Steve was still on his motorcycle, dodging bullets. "I know." As he continued he knew he was going to get into a head on collision with one of the HYDRA trucks, so he made a rash decision. He stood up on his motorcycle and then flipped it forward while he flipped off of it, letting it land right on the front of the truck. He looked at his handy work with a smile before going back to what Tony had told him. "It just slipped out."

Inside the HYDRA base, they were scrambling to figure out how to keep the Avengers from completely steamrolling them. They decided to match their strengths and send out people who had special powers just like the Avengers. The Maximoff twins.

There were men outside the base that were shooting at Tony as Melody was still running to get close. "Sir," Jarvis informed. "The city is taking fire."

"Well," Melody spoke as she ran. "We know Strucker's not gonna worry about civilian casualties."

"Mel's right." Tony spoke before going back to Jarvis. "Send in the Iron Legion." Melody had to fight rolling her eyes, knowing Jarvis would tell on her in a heartbeat. She liked the idea of the Iron Legion, but she thought the way it was executed could have gone way better.

Clint felt a shift in the ground that time after he shot off an arrow. He pressed his back against a tree, trying to see if he could feel it again. Being partially deaf gave him those advantages. When he didn't feel anything, he moved from behind the tree to shoot off another arrow, but it didn't hit. It was almost like the arrow was caught midair. That's when Clint felt another shift.

He hurried out from behind the tree with his bow ready, and was immediately knocked off his feet. His back hit the snow hard, and he used his elbows to push himself up to see a man with hair so light it was almost white, and he was wearing a track suit. Now, Clint knew he hit the ground hard, but he didn't think he hit _that_ hard. "You didn't see that coming?" The man asked in a thick Russian accent. Then, in a flash, he ran off. Clint couldn't even pull his bow on him in time. He was so distracted trying to figure out where the man went that he didn't notice a gun trained right for him until he had a hole in his side, sending him down the hill he was standing on.

"Clint!" Natasha yelled before hurrying after him. Steve froze what he was doing, giving Pietro the time to knock down _the_ Captain America. "Clint's hit!"

Melody stopped walking right when she had made it to the steps of the facility, panicked at what she had just heard. "Clint?" She questioned. "What happened?" No one answered her, and all the worst-case scenarios were running through her head. "I'm turning back."

"No." Clint grunted, finally having enough strength to talk. "Melody, keep going. It's not that bad."

His voice was so gruff and weak like he was in a lot of pain, and that worried her even more. Especially with what she was speculating. "It doesn't sound like that."

"Well," he scoffed. "You have a tendency to blow things out of proportions."

Melody rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn't help a smile growing. "Just try to not do anything else stupid while I'm gone."

"No promises."

Melody rolled her eyes again before biting her lip. "I love you."

Clint smiled a little bit. Sure, his wound was bad, but the way she was talking to him made his pain hurt less. "I love you too."

Melody took another deep sigh before deciding to continue up the stairs just as Tony was fighting off the men at the top. Once Melody got to the top, Tony had shot the top of the building where the shield was being controlled. Melody looked to him with a little smile. "Nice shot, Dad."

"Yeah, well," Tony spoke with a shrug, trying to act like it was no big deal. "Your old man has some pretty great tricks."

Melody rolled her eyes before walking past him. "Moment ruined."

Tony scoffed as she moved to the first opening inside she could find. "You're the one who can't jump right."

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys." Natasha reported making Melody swallow a lump in her throat. "We're gonna need an evac."

"I can get Barton to the jet." Thor reported as Tony slowed down along with Melody. He knew that right now, she was freaking out from the inside, but she wasn't going to let her outside show it. "The sooner we're gone, the better."

"Melody, you and Stark secure the scepter."

"Copy that." Steve told him which struck both Tony and Melody as odd.

"Find the scepter." Thor assured to them through the intercom before flying off.

"And for gosh sake," Tony exclaimed as both he and Melody picked up their pace. "Watch your language!"

Melody had to laugh at that even if she was one to be neutral between the two. She had to admit, that was funny. Steve was going to get a lot of teasing from that, and he dug himself into that own hole. "That's not going away any time soon."

When both Tony and Melody found the communications room, Melody was first to barge in, guns blazing as she slid across the slick floor. Tony was right after her, busting in through the windows, letting them all take their shots at Tony while Melody ducked behind a desk, finding herself unscathed and able to get a few of the HYDRA agents in the process. "Guys," Tony sighed out at them. "Stop. We have to talk this through." He let them continue, but it was only a matter of seconds before the guns came out of his suit and they were all on the floor. Melody stood up from behind the desk, looking at all of them, impressed the new guns took them all out that quick. "Good talk."

"No, it wasn't." One of the men grumbled out while holding onto his knee.

They both hurried in, Melody taking out the one guy that was still working on the computer. Tony then stepped out of the suit and turned it on sensory mode. Melody walked in front of him with her gun out, making Tony sigh. "Why do I always feel like the one being protected when we do these things together?"

Melody rolled her eyes at him before glancing back. "Look, Tony, I love you, but let's face it, I'm more equipped without the suit than you are."

Tony stopped walking to look at her, but she continued creeping forward. "That's one of the rudest things that's ever come from your mouth."

Melody put her gun up in the back holster when she detected no one else was in the area before plugging in one of her Stark flash drives in the computer and accessing all the data. "Okay, Jarvis, you know, I want it all."

As both Melody and Jarvis worked their magic like a team, Tony was looking around. "I know they're hiding more than files."

Melody turned to look at him while her fingers still danced around the keys before slowly stopping and backing away, letting Jarvis take up on all the work. "J," she called out. "Give us an IR scan of the room."

"The wall to your left." Both Tony and Melody turned their heads at the same time before making their way towards it. "I'm reading steel grade enforcement and an air current."

"Please be a secret door." Tony pleaded over and over again while Melody rolled her eyes, knowing he wanted this more than anything. When he finally lightly pushed on the wall, he heard a click of it opening. "Yay!"

Melody moved past him after that, taking each step with caution as Tony stuck behind her. When they got full sight of what was inside, they were both speechless, and taken back to a more stressful time. It was the alien ships the Chitauri landed in New York. The ones that chased them through the street and left them broken for months. "Guys, I've got Strucker." Steve came through the radio, but it was like background noise to both Tony and Melody.

"Yeah," Tony sighed out. "We got something bigger."

As they took survey of the place, Melody noticed off to the side was the purple Iron Man suit. The one Tony had made just for her two years ago. She thought she had lost it in the big fight. What the hell was it doing here? Come to think of it, as they looked around, there were scraps from all of the Avengers. Little stuff. Only stuff they would recognize. "What. The. Hell?" Melody continued to look around, guessing that's what happened when SHIELD doubled as HYDRA, but still it was creepy to look at. It was like a museum or shrine of stuff they didn't know was missing.

"Thor," Melody turned at the sound of her uncle's voice and moved to join him when she realized what he was going for. Loki's scepter. "I got eyes on the prize."

Right when Melody joined him, she felt...weird. Almost like someone else was there in her brain, getting into the deep parts she had stored away. She felt like her breathing was even being controlled. When she turned around to see if anyone else was there with them, she was back on the farm with Clint. Lila and Cooper were running around, but something was different. They were covered in bright red crimson.

Melody couldn't even open her mouth to scream. It was like she was just frozen there. She couldn't move her body. Right now, she was just a bystander to her own life. She looked down, and noticed the crimson was coming from the shed a few feet from where she stood. Every part of her was screaming, telling her not to go in. She wouldn't like what she found. She wasn't in control here.

She slowly moved her arm to the opening of the shed, trying with all of her might to gain control again, but the effort was useless. When she opened the door, inside was her team. Thor. Bruce. Natasha. Tony. Steve. Clint. There were a few extras in there too. Pepper. Rhodey. Sam. Her mother. And when she looked down at her hands, she was the one who was covered in their blood. Melody let out ragged gasps, wanting to scream again. She then felt a cold hand on her shoulder. When she looked at it, she saw it was metal. Bucky. She and Bucky did this, and there was no turning back. There was no correcting it. And when she looked back to Clint, she noticed his arm was outstretched for her and his mouth was wide open in what looked to be a plea. She had become the monster her family had destined for her to become.

Melody shuddered back into reality. There was still that feeling though. Someone was right behind her. She turned around to look, but still no one was there. Tony had done the same thing. They both then locked eyes, the same terrified look on their faces. Everything about their face showed their want to share what the hell had just happened with each other, but they were on a mission. They both turned back to the scepter, knowing they could talk about it later. If they even knew what it was they would be talking about.

With a quick movement, Tony shoved his hand out, part of the Iron Man suit grabbing onto his flesh in an instant. Melody was still just frozen, seeing it all replay in her mind again. What if she really was a danger to Clint? His kids? Their little family. Tony was obviously bothered by what he saw, but where Melody was frozen, Tony was determined. He walked forward, grabbing the scepter in his own hands before looking to it with a sense of wonderment. Melody took in a deep gulp. For some reason this didn't feel like the end, but was it ever that simple?

* * *

Tony was flying as Melody was standing over Clint, gripping onto his hand. Clint knew something was wrong. Something was wrong from the moment she set foot on the ship, but he knew better than to be direct about it. She would come to him when she was ready. Natasha was co-piloting while Thor and Steve walked around the bed Clint was on, trying to help, but to Melody, they were just getting in the way. Bruce's headphones were blaring, continuing to distract her. She gave a deep breath of annoyance before continuing to work on stopping his bleeding.

Natasha could pick up the tension from the back, so she took a break to check on everything. She walked by Clint's bed, offering him a small smile before eventually moving to Bruce. He took his headphones off, but that just made his music seem even louder to Melody, making her pick up her head again. If Nat thought she was helping with the music situation, she wasn't.

"Hey, the lullaby worked better than ever." Natasha offered him a small smile, but Bruce just continued his somber stare.

"Just wasn't expecting a code green." It was almost a whisper, making Natasha wanting to try harder.

"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties." She looked back at Melody who was working tirelessly on Clint.

She then noticed Clint was trying to tell her how to do her job. Never a good option. She ended up smacking his hand away, making Natasha smile. "I don't care how smart you think you are, Clinton Francis Barton, but this is my expertise."

"Francis?" Tony questioned while turning around slightly to look to the back.

Clint shrugged while looking up at her with an irritated smile. "Thanks, babe."

Natasha let out a low chuckle before looking back to Bruce, offering him another small smile. "My best friend would've been a treasured memory. And I would have had to take care of Melody, and that would have been infuriating for both of us."

Bruce offered her a little smile, not wanting to come off as rude, but this just wasn't helping like she thought it was. "You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear."

Natasha's flirty smile almost disappeared while she tried to make eye contact with Bruce again. "How long before you trust me?"

Bruce studied her whole face, wanting her to know more than anything that none of this was her fault. "It's not you I don't trust. "

Natasha gave him one last once over before looking down. "Thor, report on the Hulk."

"The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims." Everyone turned to look at Thor, knowing his social skills weren't the best, but even he had to know that what he just said was the worst possible thing he could have said in that moment. Bruce put his hands on his head, reflecting over the people he had probably killed in his state. "But not the screams of the dead," Thor spoke again, quickly trying to correct himself. "Of course." Bruce nodded even if he knew that was a complete lie. "No, no, wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and gout."

"Thor," Melody whispered, catching his attention. She was just shaking her head at him.

"Dude," Clint muttered, trying to sit up. "Just stop." He then doubled over in pain again, Melody pushing him back down, knowing what he needed right now more than anything was rest until they could get him to a real doctor.

"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul." Melody took a deep sigh of relief. If anyone could fix Clint, it was her. "Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"

"Yeah, she knows her way around." He said it quickly, obviously still bothered by what Thor had said.

"Thanks." Tony told him quickly before going back to the controls on the jet.

Melody moved towards Tony wiping her hands with a spare rag from the blood. "Tell her to prep everything. Barton's gonna need the full treatment."

"Don't I feel special." Clint joked. Melody rolled her eyes. He still didn't have a sense of humor while bleeding out.

"Jarvis, take the wheel." Tony spoke quickly before standing up to look at Melody. Jarvis quickly gave Tony a report as he moved towards Melody, his hands up, prepared to go to her shoulders in comfort mode. "Are you good?"

"I'm fine." Melody spoke through a tight smile. Somehow, she knew he wasn't talking about Clint. And somehow, Tony knew she was lying. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her to Steve and Thor who were standing off to the side of the ship while Natasha moved to take Melody's place with Clint.

The four of them stood around Loki's scepter, simply looking at it. No one said anything mostly because it still didn't feel real. They finally had it after everything. "Feels good, yeah?" Tony asked while breaking the silence. "I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."

"No, but this..." Thor spoke, his eyes downcast. Melody took a gulp. Sure she hated Loki, but she knew Thor loved Loki. And after everything that happened these past two years, she felt sympathy for what he was going through. "This brings it to a close." He turned to both Tony and Melody, giving them both a sincere smile.

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for." Melody then turned to look at Steve, taking a deep breath, wondering how he was holding together. Especially while being on a break from looking for Bucky. The thought of his name brought her back to her dream, and a shudder ran down her spine. "I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"

"And what the hell else do those human enhancements have up their sleeves?" Melody looked to each of them before chewing on her thumb nail in thought. "A fast guy and a girl who makes red energy come out of her hands? I don't know about you, but those don't sound like pleasant things we'll encounter in the future."

"We'll give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard." Tony assured while looking to his adopted daughter before looking back to Thor. "Is that cool with you?"

Melody turned to look at Thor as well, her eyes pleading to just get her hands on it. Thor had soft spots for everyone in the team, but Melody's was even softer than the rest of them. She was like a little sister to him, and he would do anything to make her happy. He gave her a small smile and then a nod, making her lean into him a bit. He was the big brother she never had. "Just a few days till the farewell party." Tony continued, not wanting anyone to forget what he had planned for them all. "You're staying, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course." He looked back to the scepter, placing one of his hands on it while giving a proud smile. "A victory should be honored with revels."

"Yeah, who doesn't love revels?" Tony spoke absent mindedly. Just like Melody, he was thinking of his experience in the HYDRA lair. He needed them all to be at the party. That would be the only thing that would calm his racing mind. "Captain?"

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA." Steve muttered. When he looked back to the other three, he noticed they were all waiting for an answer, irritation on their faces by him not giving a straight answer like he always does. He got a little smile on his face before decided to finally answer them clearly. "So, yes, revels."

 _ **So, here's the next installment! I hope you all enjoy, and I'll try to update regularly for you all! Remember to review!**_


	2. Pre-Engaged

When the quinjet landed, Melody immediately began pushing Clint out and running like she worked in the ER. And she immediately began bossing people around. Everyone understood, though. This was her boyfriend who was greatly injured, and Melody was just bossy in general. Everyone followed her except for Tony and Steve who stayed back as Maria Hill entered the quinjet.

What seemed like hours passed by while Dr. Cho worked on Clint, but Melody refused to leave his side. She even helped out. When he was getting better, she couldn't stop looking at the tissue getting replaced as Clint sipped on a smoothie Melody made for him. It was disgusting, but she made it to make him better, and he was going to do whatever it took to put her mind at ease.

Finally, the other Avengers came in making them both smile. "Hey, Mel," Tony began as he walked in. "Where do you want the Iron Legion for repairs?"

Melody shut her eyes. She still _hated_ that name. "Just put them in the bottom workshop and let the robots work on them."

"You got it." Tony spoke before leaving the room just as quick as he came in.

"Clint's doing fine by the way!" She yelled after him, irritated with how he took no interest in the love of her life's health.

"How are you doing, champ?" Natasha asked as she entered, giving Clint a smile.

Natasha began talking with both Clint and Dr. Cho when Thor and Steve walked in, going immediately for Melody. "How are you doing, Melody?" Thor asked before putting a hand on her shoulder.

Melody looked to him with a small smile. His social skills were getting better, and she noticed Steve looking over at her with that worried protective face of his. She replaced her whimsical smile at Thor with a more confident one to assure them. "I'm fine, guys." She turned to look at her boyfriend, smiling slightly. "And Clint's doing really good."

Tony began to come back from the nearest computer to send the order for the Iron Legion just as Bruce was making his way into Clint's room, completely glued to a tablet. "How's he doing?" He asked when he finally looked up to see Tony when Steve and Thor walked out of Clint's room.

"Unfortunately," he sighed before the two looked to the entrance of the room. "He's still Barton."

"That's terrible." Bruce whispered before walking in the room with Tony.

"He's fine." Steve assured him with a little smile.

Tony looked back into the room, studying Clint carefully. He wouldn't admit this to Clint's face, but he would be pretty heartbroken if they lost their archer. "He must be thirsty since he's drinking Melody's nasty smoothie."

Melody could hear them outside and made sure to give Tony a dramatic eye roll before he turned to Loki's scepter he had all set up for inspections a few feet away, and Thor and Steve walked down the hall and out of sight, she assumed to rest up. Melody turned back to Dr. Cho, eyes wide with the sudden worry that took over her. "You sure he's going to be okay?"

"Yeah." Natasha scoffed in agreement while her arms were folded in front of her. "Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." Natasha quickly flashed Clint a smile as Melody turned around to give her an unamused face. Of course, Natasha was ready with that rare innocent smile.

"There's no possibility of deterioration." Dr. Cho spoke to Melody, but she kept the little smile on her face from what Natasha said. "The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don't know they're bonding with simulacra."

"She is _creating_ tissue." Bruce spoke to them, obviously amazed by what was happening.

"If you brought him to my lab, the Regeneration Cradle could do this in twenty minutes."

"Oh, he's flat-lining." Tony called while coming back into the room, carrying a tray of better tasting smoothies than the ones Melody would always try to push down their throat. She rolled her eyes at his comment and the fact that he brought the "contraband". "Call it. Time?"

"No, no, no," Clint chuckled, putting down the smoothie Melody made and grabbed the fruity one. "I'm gonna live forever." He began to chuckle, looking down at what was happening to him again. "I'm gonna be made of plastic."

Melody looked down at it too, wondering how this would all really affect him. "You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton." Dr. Cho assured while giving him a little smile before looking up at Melody. "Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

Melody crossed her arms once he said that, but Clint just laughed as he looked up at her. "I mean…technically…we're kind of…" He then noticed everyone's eyes on him becoming nervous before looking back up at Melody. "I don't know sweetheart, what would you call it?"

"I suggest you stop talking." Melody whispered to him.

"Oh," Natasha taunted while curling her lips up in a half smile. "I think something happened between the lovely couple when they were off to god knows where."

Tony looked back to Melody with his brows raised and a terrifying look on his face. "Melody Buchanan Barnes, if you got married and didn't tell _me_ I will personally – "

"We're not married!" Melody yelled to him as he advanced on her. Tony calmed down a little, but he was still on edge. "We're like pre-engaged?" Melody left it off as a question, not really sure what to call it.

"What the hell is 'pre-engaged'?" Bruce asked. Now everyone was looking to the two in confusion, making Melody sigh.

"I mean," Melody began while looking back to Clint who just shrugged like it was her option to tell them or not. "He proposed to me," Tony's eyes got wide, "but I said not at this very moment, but yes, I do want to marry you."

"Oh, my god." Natasha giggled. "So, Mr. Been-Married-Twice got turned down on a proposal before?"

"He didn't get turned down." Melody defended.

"I mean," Tony began while shrugging. "He _kind_ of got turned down."

Clint shrugged with Tony before Clint angled his head so he would be able to look at her directly. "You did say 'no' at first, babe."

Melody began to get flustered, letting out a large groan before grabbing a good smoothie and hurrying out the door. "You're drinking contraband!" Tony called after her. Melody's response was a middle finger, not even turning around to give it, just continuing walking.

"Anyway," Dr. Cho began, trying to get everyone back on topic after that awkward conversation. "This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are gonna be left in the dust."

Tony nodded in agreeance before actually speaking. "That is exactly the plan." Tony then moved to Dr. Cho, making it his plan to invite everyone he could to this party. "And, Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday."

She scoffed before going back to her equipment. "Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties." She then got an idea, pushing a strand of hair back, knowing asking this question was completely out of line, but she had to know. "Will Thor be there?" They all smiled, knowing Thor wouldn't pass down enjoying in revels.

* * *

"What's the rumpus?" Bruce asked as Tony led him into his workshop just as Melody came in through the other end, changed out of her uniform while holding up her phone.

"What's the 911 for?" Tony put his other arm around Melody, making her and Bruce share confused looks before Tony began speaking again.

"Well, the scepter." He finally let go of both of their shoulders, leaving both Bruce and Melody standing next to each other, watching Tony quizzically. He had something up his sleeve. They just couldn't place it. "You see, we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive." Both Melody and Bruce nodded at the countless conversations they had on this technology. "So, I've been analyzing the gem inside." With Tony's various devices, in an instant, Jarvis's coding was right in the middle of both Bruce and Melody. "You may recognize..."

They both staggered out the way before Melody gave a little nod to the figure. "Jarvis."

"Miss. Barnes."

"Started out, Jarvis was just a natural language UI." Melody nodded, remembering when she was little how Tony had created Jarvis. "Now he runs the Iron Legion. He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper. Top of the line."

"Yes." Bruce spoke, not really following what Tony was trying to say. Neither was Melody.

"I suspect not for long." Jarvis muttered before Tony brought up another figure right next to Jarvis.

"Meet the competition."

Both Bruce and Melody walked around it, studying every aspect. It wasn't quite like Jarvis, but it was similar. "It's beautiful." She finally commented.

Tony walked around them, a knowing look on his face as they continued to study it. "If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?"

Bruce and Melody looked to each other before looking back to it. "Like it's thinking." Melody guessed. Tony nodded at her observation.

"I mean," Bruce began while pointing out different areas of it. "This could be... It's not a human mind." Bruce's mind was just boggled at the technology right in front of him. "I mean, look at this. They're like neurons firing."

"Down in Strucker's lab, Mel and I saw some fairly advanced robotics work." Melody looked down, remembering it all. "They deep-sixed the data, but...I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door." Melody then thought of her nightmare while she was down there. What if the door they were knocking on was too dangerous?

"Artificial intelligence." Bruce spoke. Melody just continued to look down, wondering if all of this would be worth it.

Tony raised his hands to the two, still shocked with what they could develop. "Guys, this could be it. This could be the key to creating Ultron."

Melody's head picked up at that. After all of their theories and late night brainstorms, could it really be happening? "I thought Ultron was a fantasy."

"Yesterday it was." Bruce had to take off his glasses to make sure he was understanding this all right. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol?"

Melody had to step back for a moment, letting a little chuckle out at what they were about to scientifically stumble on. "That's a man-sized 'if'."

"Our job is 'if'." Tony countered while Melody put a hand on her arm, rubbing her elbow, not sure about any of it. This would rock the scientific world and Tony was approaching it as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "What if the two you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach, Bruce turning brown instead of green and Melody with Clint looking at starting a family? Both of you not looking over your shoulder for Veronica."

"Don't hate." Bruce countered while pointing at Tony and then turning to Melody. "We helped design Veronica."

"As a worst-case measure, right?" Tony countered while they both nodded, the three now walking around the lab together, discussing what was going to happen in the next few days. "How about a best case? What if the world was safe? What if, next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?"

"The only people threatening the planet would be people." Bruce spoke quietly as Melody just looked back and forth between the two. It made sense, she saw that, but there was just something in this plan. Something that was making her gut tighten from worry. So much could go wrong, and yet, if it all went right….

"I want to apply this to the Ultron program." Melody looked back up at her uncle, wishing the world could be as black and white as he was describing it, but she couldn't fight the shades of grey she was seeing. "But Jarvis can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here. That's three days. Give me three days."

"So," Melody began, wanting Tony to hear this aloud so maybe he could see what she was seeing. "You're going for artificial intelligence, and you don't want to tell the team?"

"Right." Tony countered, making Melody scoff. He _had_ to see what he was doing by not including them. "That's right. You know why?" Melody shrugged, waiting for his explanation. "Because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear 'the man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world." Melody then began to think harder about it. She thought of what just happened to Clint. She thought of what happened when aliens first came to earth and brainwashed him. She thought about her very empty family tree, and how maybe if there _was_ a suit of armor around the world, it would be a little more full.

Melody looked to Bruce, hoping he was seeing what she was seeing when he talked about this. "Sounds like a cold world, Tony." Melody pointed at Bruce as he said it. Finally, someone agreed with her.

"I've seen colder." Melody sighed, knowing he was trying to guilt trip the two now. "This one, this very vulnerable blue one, it needs Ultron." He began to walk towards both Jarvis and what could eventually be Ultron, looking back to them while throwing his arms in the air. "Peace in our time. Imagine that."

Bruce and Melody looked at each other again, wondering if this really was a good idea or if this would all end badly. Melody then looked back to Tony, taking a deep sigh. "Three days." Melody growled out as she walked towards Tony who was looking to her with excitement. "Three days to figure out if this can work, and if it doesn't, we drop it, and we don't discuss Ultron ever again."

Tony had a huge smile on his face, almost as if he was a child, before sticking out his hand so they could shake on it. "Deal." Melody looked down at his hand, taking a deep sigh before grabbing it. For some reason, she felt like she was signing her life away.

For three days, the scientists worked non-stop, Clint was beginning to worry about the three. Melody wasn't telling him anything. She would just tell him they were trying something, doing some old work that needed to be done. Usually, Melody would go on and on about her projects when Clint didn't understand over half of what she was talking about. Now it was nothing but silence from her.

Lots of their theories and trials were failed attempts until the night of the party came, and the three of them were just left looking at the scepter. "What did we miss?" Tony whispered.

"I'll continue to run variations on the interface." Jarvis assured them, but Melody was kind of relieved it all didn't work out. "But you three should probably prepare for the guests."

"Yes," Melody spoke while turning to Bruce, Melody actually finding it exciting to be out of this lab. "Let's do that." She put her arm around Bruce, and the two walked out as Tony continued to stand there, wondering where they went wrong. "I'll notify you if there are any developments." Jarvis included.

"Thanks, buddy." Jarvis whispered to him, still looking down in thought.

"Enjoy yourself, sir." Jarvis told him as he finally began to make his way out of the lab.

"I always do." Tony muttered, finding himself defeated.

Outside the lab, Clint was taking deep, slow breaths trying to calm himself down, still tugging on his sleeve to adjust the Hawkeye cufflinks he had gotten for Christmas. He wasn't going to show it, but in all honesty, he had never been more scared in his life. When Tony came out of the lab, they almost ran into each other. "Hey, Tony." Clint finally called out when he was close enough, making Tony look at him with a curious face.

"Hey," Tony crossed his arms as he looked him over. "You feeling better?"

Clint smiled as he nodded. "Yeah, just getting ready for the party."

Tony frowned, knowing something else was on his mind. "What's up?"

"I," Clint looked back down to his cufflinks, rubbing one of them with his thumb. "I wanted to talk to you about Mel."

Tony's eyebrows then furrowed in worry while he stood up straighter. Sure, he had been with Melody for the past three days, but they didn't do much personal talking. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." Clint laughed out, realizing he was probably worrying Tony. "Better than okay, really."

That made Tony smile. He knew what Clint wanted to do from the second he saw him waiting outside the lab for him. "You want to ask for my permission to marry Melody?"

Clint let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Was it really that obvious what he wanted to do? "Yes, how did you know that."

"Well," Tony spoke while shrugging. "I've known you for a long time, I've known Melody her whole life, and after everything is calming down, it feels like the right time, huh?"

Clint nodded with a little smile on his face. "Yeah, it really does."

"Especially since you didn't ask my permission the first time."

"Oh, come on," Clint sighed out, knowing that Tony wasn't going to drop this so easy. "She didn't even say yes, does that even count?"

"All proposals count, Clint." Clint let out a little eye roll, but Tony knew he couldn't mess with him any longer. He would soon be his son-in-law. "Yes, I give you my permission, Clinton Francis Barton." Clint let out a deep sigh. He should have known that one wasn't going to die out so easy either.

"You gonna do it tonight?"

Clint nodded as he began to pull out the ring. "I even got a custom design."

Clint opened up the box, letting Tony look at it. Once Tony saw it, he looked back to Clint before taking it in his hands so he could study it further. "Is that the arc reactor?"

"Yes, sir." Tony laughed out.

Tony leaned even further to look at it. "You got it down to the – "

"Hey, boys." They both jumped, Tony enclosing the ring in his fist as Clint pushed the ring box behind his back.

Melody's eyes got a little wide at their quick movements, but Tony and Clint just got insanely huge smiles on their faces, trying to act as normal as possible. "Hey, Mel." Tony spoke first as Clint just continued to stand there until Tony nudged him, knowing Clint had to say something so they wouldn't look weird.

"Hey, beautiful."

Melody nodded to the two, wondering what the hell she just walked in on. "Alright, so I'm gonna pretend like this never happened and continue on with my day."

"Smart." Tony agreed while nodding.

"Good choice, Mel." Clint told her, his smile turning more into a real one than fake.

Melody took a deep sigh while looking at them both before nodding and walking off. Once they were sure she was gone, Tony turned to look at Clint, giving him a slap on the shoulder. "Seriously, you've lived with her for years and this is how you act when you're hiding something?"

"I'm nervous!" Clint exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

Tony simply rolled his eyes before giving him the ring and hurrying past him. "Amateur."

Clint frowned at what Tony had said to him, but then he looked down at the ring. Tony had given his permission and he was going to propose to Melody tonight. Hopefully this time she said yes.

* * *

Melody walked aimlessly around the party with a glass of water, mingling here and there, but she hadn't stuck to a specific group yet. Just then, a hand went around her waist and pulled her into his body. She already knew who it was. "I was standing across the room when I noticed you, and from that point on, I was in love."

Melody rolled her eyes at Clint's sweet talk before turning around to look at him. "I'm sorry sir, but I believe my non-boyfriend is gonna be here any minute."

"Oh, come on." Clint groaned while moving so he could be right in front of her. "That feels like forever ago, live in the moment."

"I am living in the moment." Melody spoke, offended he thought she wasn't.

"Come on, _the_ Melody Barnes is drinking water at a party." Melody gave him an irritated glance, but a smile was right on her face. "Didn't you one time get so drunk you legitimately thought you could fly?"

Melody began to chuckle a little bit. "Yeah, the catch is that now I can kind of fly."

"You jump." Clint debated. He would fight her on that for days.

"She's a pretty good jumper." They both turned around to see Steve and Sam walking to them.

"Yeah." Sam scoffed while looking to his good friend. "I still have yet to see it, and I'm waiting on it."

"You'll see it soon." Melody teased as she leaned in for a hug from him. "And," Melody spoke, going back to the conversation she was having with Clint. "I had a beer earlier. I'm trying to take it slow tonight."

"I can vouch for that." Tony spoke as he came up to join them. "She was holding onto a beer."

"Oh," Clint purred as he looked back and forth to the people that were there. "If it isn't the world's most complicated family tree."

"It isn't that hard." Melody defended, going to stand in between the two boys. "You're just too drunk to comprehend."

Clint let out a hearty laugh before nodding to the two. "Explain then."

The three looked between each other, shrugging like this was going to be a simple task. "Okay," Steve spoke, deciding to go first. "My sister married Bucky." That name was still a little hard for him to bring up. "Then she got pregnant with his child."

A few more people gathered around like Rhodey, Bruce, Natasha and Maria excited to hear them explain it because everyone got a little confused when they thought about it. "Then," Tony began while looking to them both. "My mother married my father, and James was my half-brother."

"Then James married my mom and they had me," Melody spoke with a shrug coming to the conclusion.

"You completely left out your mom." Rhodey spoke while crossing his arms, thinking of his girlfriend who couldn't make it tonight.

"Okay?" Melody began, knowing it would be an easy fit. "My mom is the daughter of Peggy Carter."

"Don't you have a cousin in there somewhere too?" Natasha asked, jumping into Rhodey's decision of poking all the holes they could in it.

"Okay," Steve sighed out while throwing his hands in the air, realizing what everyone was doing. He pointed to Tony, deciding he was going to simplify this even further. "My nephew." He then pointed to Melody. "My great-niece."

Tony threw his hands up in the air, waiting for anyone else to question them. "Are you done?"

Everyone began to mutter, knowing no matter what they said, they would still have the most difficult family tree around. Steve and Tony put their arms around each other as they talked, giving Melody the perfect opportunity to pull Natasha away from the group. "Hey, can I talk to you alone?"

Natasha studied her for a moment with a confused face before taking a sip of her beer. "Yeah, what's up?"

Melody looped her arm through hers as they continued to walk through the party. Melody thought it would just be best if she just came out with it. "I'm kind of late on my period."

Natasha stopped walking once they had reached the bar before turning to look at her, her eyes wide. "How late?"

"Like two weeks."

Natasha's eyes almost bulged out of her skull before looking down at Melody's stomach then back up to her face. "Are you…?"

"Maybe." Melody whispered before chewing on her fingernails. "I haven't taken a test yet, but I have one in my purse if you would be so nice to be my lookout."

"No." Natasha spoke while shaking her head, thinking that maybe this was just a sick joke to her. "You were drinking a beer earlier. You're lying."

Melody looked her dead in the face before reaching out and grabbing a beer out of a random party goer's hand. "You mean hold onto a half empty beer and walk around while pretending everything is normal?"

"Oh shit." Natasha whispered under her breath as Melody nodded from how stressed out she had been during these two weeks. "Well, on the bright side, Clint's gonna propose to you tonight."

Melody's eyes got wide once she said that. "Why the hell would you tell me that and ruin the surprise."

"Okay," Natasha spoke, trying to counter. "How did you not know that was going to happen tonight with how awkward he's been acting lately?"

Melody thought about it before shrugging. "He's always awkward."

"Yeah." Natasha agreed while nodding. "But not that awkward."

Melody sighed, knowing she had a point. "Okay, that's true."

Natasha looked at her best friend, giving her a little smile, kind of wishing she wouldn't have told her about the big surprise. "Go take your test, I'll be your look out, and then get proposed to."

"Okay." Melody whispered before turning around and hurrying to the bathroom.

"Make sure to act surprised!" Natasha called after her. Melody turned around, giving her an irritated stare before hurrying to the bathroom.

 _ **WaywardandWanderlust: I'm excited to be back, and I'm excited for you to read it too!**_

 _ **Gigi103: I'm glad you're liking it so far, love!**_

 _ **Kimberley: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy this one too!**_

 _ **Alright guys, I'm sorry this one took so long to get to you guys, but I've been swamped in final projects and all that jazz. Once summer comes around, hopefully I'll get these chapters to you much quicker! Enjoy and remember to review!**_


	3. Strings

While Natasha was waiting for Melody, she was pouring a drink for herself when Bruce slowly walked up to her at the bar. She looked so beautiful, wearing a hugging dress, her eyes downcast, revealing a little glitter in her brown eyeshadow. When Bruce moved to a seat, he took his glasses off and smiled at her. "How did a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?"

Natasha sighed before setting down a glass to pour whatever she had left in the shaker in the glass for him. "Fella done me wrong."

"You got lousy taste in men, kid."

"He's not so bad." She put a cherry in both of the drinks before scooting one glass towards him. "Well, he has a temper. Deep down, he's all fluff." Bruce continued to stare at her, wondering if they were continuing an act or if…she was talking about him. "Fact is, he's not like anybody I've ever known." Bruce took a small sip of his drink as Natasha looked down in thought. Did she really want to pursue a relationship with a member of the team? It could end disastrous, but it worked out for Clint and Melody, right? Why couldn't it work out with Natasha and Bruce? "All my friends are fighters. And here comes this guy, spends his life avoiding the fight because he knows he'll win."

Bruce sighed. Did she really think that about him or could she be talking about someone else? "Sounds amazing."

"He's also a huge dork." Okay, now Bruce knew she was talking about him. "Chicks dig that." Natasha assured once she saw how defeated he looked. "So, what do you think? Should I fight this, or run with it?"

Bruce looked at her panicked. Was she really putting this all in his hands. "Run with it, right? Or did he... Was he..." Natasha let out a little chuckle at his stammering. "What did he do that was so wrong to you?"

"Not a damn thing." She whispered to him. She picked up her drink, seeing Melody hurrying towards the bar. "But never say never."

She began to walk towards her friend, and Melody almost came out with it until she saw what Natasha had in her hands. "Oh, god, is that a raspberry martini? You always make the best."

"Should I make you one or get you another water?"

Melody let out a huge sigh, really wishing she could have one. "Water for the next nine months."

"Oh, Mel." Natasha sighed.

"I mean," Melody spoke while looking down at her body. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. "This is a good thing, right?" Natasha nodded furiously. It was a wonderful thing! "I love Clint, Clint loves me. We're about to get engaged tonight, it's kind of right, isn't it?"

Natasha moved closer to her with a big smile on her face. "So, you're gonna say yes?"

"I mean I was originally, but I don't think I even have a choice now."

"That's true." Natasha whispered before taking a sip of her drink.

"But," Melody got a huge smile on her face, looking back to the bar, seeing Steve talking to Bruce, before turning back to Natasha. "I saw you and Bruce talking. What's going on over there?"

Natasha opened her mouth, but Clint's voice came from behind Melody. "Can I get everyone's attention, please?"

They both turned to him, Natasha giving Melody an excited smile while Melody just smiled at him. This was a long time coming, and she was so glad she could finally say yes to him, and that he was giving him something he had always wanted. An addition to their family.

Everyone had gotten quiet, and turned to Clint, some in excitement, already being able to predict what was going to happen, and some in confusion. "It's so great to be here with everyone, especially with some people I haven't seen in a long time." He flashed a little smile to Rhodey, Sam and Maria who were standing close by. "And I just wanted to use this time to explain kind of how important time is." Melody looked down, feeling herself blush. They sure did take their time. "As most of you know, Melody and I took a lot of time getting to be together. Not a lot of our situations were ideal, but when I look back on it, all the time we spent apart was worth it because I probably wouldn't appreciate all the time we do spend together now as much."

Clint moved towards Melody as she began to bite her lip. Half of her wanted him to hurry up and do it, but the other half of her wanted him to take his time because the poetic justice in that was going to be beautiful. "And since we spent so much time getting together, it's only natural that we spend so much time planning to get married without even taking that first step." There were lots of gasps from the room, now all of them seeing that this was not just a toast.

"Or you know, the first step getting rejected."

Melody had to shut her eyes from Tony's outburst. Clint did the same. He just couldn't let her grow up, even a little bit, without embarrassing her. "So," Clint began as he pulled out the ring box and got on one knee in front of all their friends, family and colleagues. "What do you say, Mel? You want to spend the rest of your life with me?" She just continued to smile down at him, wanting to remember this moment forever. Everything was just so…perfect. "Please don't say 'no' again. My fragile heart can't take it."

Melody rolled her eyes at him before sticking her left hand out, ready to get that perfect ring on her fourth finger. "I guess, Barton." He gave her an irritated smile as he slipped the ring on her finger as everyone else around them began to applaud and raise their drinks up in cheers. Clint was still giving her that little glare, though. "Yes." Melody whispered as he began to stand up. He pulled her into him at the waist again as she let out a bubbly laugh. "I will marry you!" They hugged each other tightly, Melody taking another deep sigh. Everything was really going amazingly for them. Melody felt guilty for it, but as she hugged him and thought about how perfect their lives were, she couldn't help, but think that there was something else just around the corner, ready to poke a massive hole in it.

* * *

The crowd had left by now, so it was just a few insiders who stayed behind at the tower. Melody was in Clint's lap on the floor as everyone else sat around the coffee table, laughing and talking, and of course, drinking. It was getting really hard for Melody to pretend at the moment. Clint was twirling one of the chopsticks in his hands as Melody shoveled some more noodles in her mouth from the take out they ordered. "Oh, hey," Tony spoke, grabbing everyone's attention. "Who has read _How to Love and How to be an Emotionally Damaged Person_."

Both Clint and Melody almost spit out their drinks. They knew it was getting popular, but they didn't expect any of the Avengers to read it. "Who wrote it?" Bruce asked, curious from the title.

"No author." Steve spoke while shaking his head. "They wrote it anonymously."

"Okay," Maria spoke while laughing. Well, Melody thought, this is what she gets for anonymously publishing a book, people will mock it right in front of you. "I don't even read self-help books, but this one, I felt like she knew me."

Both Clint and Melody slowly turned to each other with wide eyes. "How do you know it's a she?" Rhodey countered while leaning in to look at her from across the table.

"Oh, come on," Natasha scoffed. "Only a woman would be able to openly admit she is emotionally damaged."

Everyone laughed out when Tony turned to look at the two now trying to look as normal as possible. "Have you two read it? What are your thoughts?"

"Um," Melody began while looking up in thought. She had to come up with a lie and she had to come up with one quick. "I got a copy when I read all the reviews, but I haven't gotten a chance to crack it open yet."

"Are you kidding?" Steve laughed. "It's super short you can read it in a day."

"Changed my life." Maria encouraged.

"Or are you just like the author, and you're not able to admit you're emotionally damaged until it's too late?"

Melody gave her friend a long eye roll. Oh, if only she knew. "I'll read it tomorrow then, sound like a plan?"

"I'm telling you, Melly." Tony spoke while shaking you're head. "That book will drag up some stuff you really don't want to think about, but it will make you a better person on the end."

Melody nodded, wishing she could look at him like she was interested, but she just wasn't. She had been there and done that when she wrote the damn thing. "I have a feeling it already has."

Tony gave her a weird look at that comment, but the conversation continued on as it did before. Somehow, they had all got onto the reoccurring conversation topic of Thor's hammer. "It's a trick." Clint scoffed.

Melody rolled her eyes as she looked to him. He just couldn't let one magical thing happen, could he? "No, no," Thor chuckled as he and Steve clanked their drinks together. "It's more than that."

Melody then looked over to see Bruce and Natasha leaning close to each other, whispering and bumping knees. She got a big smile on her face before taking a drink of her water. She was so excited this was going to be happening soon. "'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power.'" Thor let out a little laugh as Melody just continued to shake her head. This was definitely the booze talking. And she thought he was actually sobering up. "Whatever, man! It's a trick."

"Please, be my guest." The whole room got quiet as they turned from Thor to Clint, wondering if he was really gonna take him up on it.

"Come on." Of course, Tony was going to be the first one to egg him on.

"Really?" Clint questioned as Melody got off his lap, leaving him with the choice to go up there or not.

"Yeah." As soon as Thor said that, Clint bolted right up and moved to the hammer.

"This is gonna be beautiful." Rhodey laughed before taking a sip of his beer.

"Clint, you've had a tough week." Tony told him. Sure, this was her fiancé and Melody should have been on his side no matter what, but she really doubted he was going to pull this off. "We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."

Everyone began to laugh, but Melody gave a sly look to Natasha before speaking. "I can assure you, he gets it up." Tony's face got straighter than ever before as Clint shrugged, knowing that was correct. Natasha was the only one who knew she was referencing to her pregnancy, but that didn't stop everyone else from laughing at the joke.

Clint then turned to look at Thor, the smile from Melody's compliment still on his face. "You know I've seen this before, right?" Thor shrugged, knowing that no matter how hard he tried, he still wouldn't be able to lift the hammer. Clint pulled all he could, but it didn't even budge which made Clint chuckle before looking back to Thor. "I still don't know how you do it!"

"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony asked Clint, his face still unchanging from what Melody had said.

Clint put out his hand as he began to stumble back to Melody. "Please, Stark, by all means."

Tony stood up and unbuttoned his blazer just when Melody had pulled Clint down by the leather jacket, and he laughed about it. Melody gave him a little kiss, loving the sound of his laugh. "Never one to shrink from an honest challenge." Tony moved to the hammer, placing the handle around his wrist. "It's physics."

"Physics." Melody spoke before nodding, finding it very hard to believe that he would be able to lift it.

"Right, so," Tony began, completely ignoring Melody and turning to look at Thor. "If I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"

Thor nodded, his unamused face not falling. "Yes, of course."

"I will be reinstituting prima nocta." Everyone made a gross sound, not wanting to imagine what Asgard would come to under Tony Stark's rule. Tony tried to lift the hammer, but still, nothing happened. Tony looked around, slightly embarrassed that he talked it up so much and he couldn't do anything. He stepped away from the hammer, getting an idea and stepping away. "I'll be right back."

"You can't just do that!" Melody yelled to him.

"I'll be right back!" He reiterated as Melody sat back down, looking to Clint with an irritated smile at what her uncle was doing.

Tony came hurrying up the stairs from the workshop with two metal hands. Everyone began to complain and tell him it wasn't fair as he tossed the other one to Rhodey, and they both went to the hammer while powering up the hands. They both positioned themselves on the handle before pulling it up with all of their power. It still wasn't budging.

Rhodey turned to Tony, irritated while still continuing to pull. "Are you even pulling?"

"Are you on my team?" Tony asked him, offended.

"Just represent." Rhodey growled out as Tony looked up at him, shocked that he was telling him that. "Pull."

"All right," Tony spoke, getting focused again. "Let's go."

"Who's next?" Clint groaned out, getting bored with the two trying.

Melody looked to Natasha, still sitting close to Bruce. "Hulk."

Bruce looked up at what she had said before shaking his head. "No, I'm fine."

"Oh, come on." Melody spoke, squinting her eyes to get a good look at him. "You know you're curious."

Bruce turned back to Natasha who shrugged, not really caring if he tried or not. She wouldn't feel any less for him. Bruce also knew he wanted to impress Natasha. He stood up and everyone began to get excited and began to clap. When he pulled on it, nothing budged. Everyone's biggest fear was that he was going to Hulk out right there. He finally let go of the handle with a growl as everyone watched him, thinking that the Hulk out of all of them would definitely be able to move it. Natasha gave him a tiny shrug before he moved back to sit with her.

That's when Steve stood up and went to the hammer. "Go ahead, Steve. No pressure." Tony told him as he clapped him on the back.

"Hey," Clint spoke, turning to look at Steve right when he reached the hammer. "Tony got two iron suits to help him, why don't two super soldiers try?"

Steve gave Melody an excited look before she stood up. "I'm down."

They both adjusted their grip around the handle, Steve's hands going on first and Melody's just a few centimeters above his. Clint watched them, knowing that if no one could pick up that hammer, Melody could. On the count of three, both Steve and Melody began pulling, and the hammer moved just a little bit. It was barely anything. If you blinked, you missed it, and Melody and Steve didn't even realize it. Thor and Clint did though. Clint was proud while Thor was panicked.

They finally let go in defeat, making Thor laugh, but Clint just wanted to know who it moved for. Steve or Melody? "Nothing."

The two moved to sit back down, and Bruce turned to Natasha, pushing his hands in her direction. "And, Widow?"

"No, no." She chuckled before taking a sip of her beer. "That's not a question I need answered."

"All deference to the _Man Who_ Wouldn't _Be King,_ " Melody rolled her eyes at Tony's references. "But it's rigged."

"You bet your ass." Clint got up from the floor and clapped Tony on the back before moving to the other side of the room to get another drink.

"Steve," Maria called while pointing to Clint. "He said a bad language word."

Steve sighed as everyone laughed, and he turned to Tony. "Did you tell everyone about that?"

"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony asked Thor, completely ignoring his uncle which made Steve roll his eyes. "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation."

"Yes." Thor spoke as he stood to his feet as Melody got up to join Maria on the couch. "It's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." Thor grabbed the hammer off the table and gave it a little swirl. Everyone was in awe of how none of them could pick it up, but he did it with such ease. "You're all not worthy."

Half of them laughed and the other half booed until a piercing sound came in the room. Everyone put hands to their ears as it continued when Tony pulled out the remote to control the tower, trying to see what went wrong.

There was a sound coming from behind the stairs, making them all turn around and stand up, trying to see what was happening. One of the Iron Legion bots was stalking towards the group, but it wasn't totally repaired. It's arm was hanging and it was walking with a slight limp as the lights in the eyes continued to flicker. "Worthy?" The word slithered through the air, sending a chill up everyone's spine. "How could you be worthy?" Clint and Melody shared a brief look from across the room before looking back to it. They had to keep each other safe no matter what. That's when Clint began to slowly walk to her. "You're all killers."

"Dad." Melody spoke instinctively as Clint had finally made it to her side.

"Stark." Steve added, almost as breathy as Melody's, but a little stronger.

"Jarvis," Tony spoke into the remote, his voice low, not understanding how this could have happened.

"I'm sorry." The robot continued, everyone remained to stay rigged from fear. "I was asleep…or was it a dream?"

Melody looked over to Tony urgently, not knowing what to do about this thing. "Reboot Legionnaire OS." Tony spoke again, keeping his voice low, but more urgent this time. "We got a buggy suit."

"There was this…" They all turned back to the robot, the same concerned face as before. "Terrible noise…and I was tangled in…in…strings." He sounded like he was truly shaken by this dream, making Melody lean down and pull one of her daggers out of her boot. "Had to kill this other guy." After he said that, Clint and Melody's hand clasped together, more afraid. "He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve questioned, his eyes focusing on the thing even more.

He let out a dark chuckle. "Wouldn't've been my first call, but down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Melody finally asked, done with his little riddles.

He looked to her specifically, already knowing so much about her. "'I see a suit of armor around the world.'"

Tony, Bruce and Melody each got even straighter before sharing looks with each other while everyone else turned to Tony, recognizing his voice. "Ultron." Bruce whispered, breaking the brief moment of silence.

"In the flesh." He announced grandly. Tony gulped, and so did Melody. One of them did this. One of them added something, and they weren't sure which one it was. "Or no, not yet. Not this Christmas." Everyone began to slowly grab their weapons, taking this thing as one of the worst threats they had seen since HYDRA. "I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha asked as Clint continued to look from both Ultron and Melody. She knew what this was, and he couldn't understand how; unless…she made it.

"Peace of our time." Right when he finished his sentence, other Iron Legion robots burst through the wall, going towards all of the Avengers. Steve kicked up the coffee table and jumped down as everyone else ducked for cover.

Maria was able to shoot one while Melody threw a dagger at another, making it to the couch where she had placed a few daggers underneath. Tony and Rhodey ran to get their suits, and Rhodey was thrown into one of the floors below. Thor began to swing his hammer, knocking out a few robots in the process. One of the robots began to chase after Clint, making him duck under the other couch as Melody stabbed it in the head.

Another explosion rang out, Natasha and Bruce jumping over the bar to hide there. Bruce landed on top of Natasha, her looking to him worried, remembering the last time an explosion broke out with all of them there. "Don't turn green." She pleaded.

"I won't." He promised while shaking his head.

One of the Iron Legion bots grabbed Loki's scepter just as Melody ran up the stairs. Steve jumped on the thing's back, holding it in a choke hold as he punched the head. Melody took a deep breath, knowing what she wanted to do to the thing, but Steve was getting in the way. Just then, it backed Steve into one of the walls, forcing him to let go and fall to the floor.

Melody continued up the stairs just as Clint dodged out the way and fell hard on glass. Melody climbed over the railing, taking a deep breath before jumping on the robot's back. Melody began working on the robot's interface with her knife. "Melody!" Steve called out from worry as he looked up at her.

Tony got up, noticing what he was looking at. "Mel!"

"One second!" She called, almost getting it.

On the ground, Tony just kept looking up at her helpless, but Steve threw Thor a robot so he could smash it with his hammer. Then Clint found Steve's shield off to the side, throwing it to Steve just in time for him to decapitate it. In that second, Melody had deprogrammed the robot, falling with it, landing on the stairs and going down a few steps. "Melody!" Natasha screamed, terrified for what was inside of her as well.

"That was dramatic." Melody threw the robot off of her and began to sit up as Natasha ran to the steps to help her sit up. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well," Both girls looked up from their spot on the floor back to Ultron. What the hell did this thing want? "You just didn't think it through." Bruce also showed up next to Melody, both him and Natasha helping her up. "You want to protect the world, but you don't want to change it." Tony's eyes were still fixated on Melody. She could have been seriously hurt because of this thing he thought up. This thing he successfully made. "How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to…evolve?" Ultron picked up one of the discarded robot carcasses, making it high enough so everyone in the room could see it. "With these? These puppets." He crushed the head, making a shiver go up everyone's spine. "There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."

Right when he finished the sentence, Thor threw his hammer into Ultron, making him bust into what seemed like a million nuts and bolts. Everyone looked to each other, not quite sure what to say, everyone was confused, but Tony, Bruce and Melody felt guilt. Silence engulfed the air until one more thing came out of Ultron's mouth. "I had strings, but now I'm free."


	4. My Fault

Tony simply stood in front of one of the destroyed robots while Bruce furiously looked through the files. Melody sat on the railing with Clint leaning right next to her, his leather jacket now resting on Melody's shoulders. She was trying to battle all of her emotions. So many things happened in one night, she wasn't sure what to feel. Though, the main thing eating at her was guilt. "All our work is gone." Bruce reported. Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron?" Steve questioned again, not totally grasping what the thing was.

"He's been in everything." Natasha told him while turning around, pulling her hoodie in close before going to stand next to Bruce again. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

"He's in your files, he's in the Internet." Everyone turned to look at Rhodey while he was gripping onto his arm from the fall earlier. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

"Nuclear codes." Maria whispered, making Melody look over to her friend. She took another deep breath, feeling that guilt stab at her again. She should have been the one to stop this. She should have never given Tony those three days. If she would have followed her gut and stopped it, they wouldn't be here talking about how their invention was going to destroy the world.

"Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

Melody began shaking her head, knowing exactly who Rhodey was talking about. "We're not calling Emily, okay?" Emily could really help their situation, and Melody knew that, but she was embarrassed. She didn't want her mother to clean up her mess. And she didn't want Emily to look at her with disappointment at what she had done.

Rhodey opened his mouth to debate with her, but Natasha began speaking. "Nukes? He said he wanted _us_ dead."

"He didn't say 'dead.'" Everyone turned to look at Steve. He hadn't really looked at Melody either, and that was already hard enough for her. "He said 'extinct.'"

"He also said he killed somebody." Melody turned to look at Clint, but once they made eye contact, he looked away, and so did she. She continued to feel like there was nothing she could do to fix this, and Clint had to be furious with her. She didn't want their life together to be ruined right when it started.

"There wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria spoke with a shrug, bringing Melody back to the conversation.

Tony began to walk forward with a tablet in his hand. "Yes, there was."

With a small movement, Jarvis's energy appeared before them, but it was disassembled and broken. Melody and Bruce slowly walked forward with their mouths dropped. Melody was practically shivering as she walked forward. This was the one thing besides Tony that had always been there. "What?" She whispered out in disbelief.

"This is insane." Bruce whispered while getting on the other side of Jarvis.

Steve hung his head, also feeling like he lost someone. "Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

"No." Melody whispered, her eyes downcast in both sorrow and thought. "Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis."

"This isn't strategy." Bruce added on. "This is... rage."

Once Bruce was finished with his sentence, Thor came storming in, going straight for Tony, and picking him up off the ground by his neck. Melody and Rhodey both ran to Tony's side as Clint simply sighed, watching the spectacle before him. "It's going around."

"Come on," Tony whispered through the pressure Thor had on his neck. "Use your words, buddy."

"Thor!" Melody yelled at him like a mother. "Put him down!"

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor growled out before doing as Melody told him.

She gave him an irritated look, but he just walked right past her like she wasn't even there. Melody took a deep breath, feeling so hurt by that movement. Thor was always there for her, but not now. Not when she helped create a psychopath. "Thor," Steve began, picking up on the exchange between him and Melody, and wanting to get to business to maybe take their minds off of how divided they seemed in the moment. "The Legionnaire."

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, _again_." He directed the last part of the sentence to Tony and Melody who were standing close together, feeling like they were each other's only friends right now.

"Genie's out of that bottle." Natasha spoke with her arms crossed as she moved closer to the group. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand." Helen spoke up, standing next to the destroyed robot in confusion. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony, Bruce and Melody all stood in a row as everyone turned to look at them. That's when Tony began to laugh. Both Bruce and Melody turned to him with wide eyes, Bruce pleading for him to stop, and not explain anything he was thinking right now. "You think this is funny?" Thor asked, moving towards them again.

"No." Melody said quickly while shaking her head.

"It's probably not, right?" Tony added in.

Melody shut her eyes, hating they were in this situation. "We were so close."

"This is very terrible. Is it so... Is it so..." He began laughing again, both Bruce and Melody taking deep sighs, making Tony put on a serious face again. "It is. It's so terrible."

Thor began to step toward him again, everyone worried for a fight to break out. "This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

"No. I'm sorry." Tony spoke, putting his hand out while stepping towards Thor. "I'm sorry. It _is_ funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony," Bruce strung his name out while trying not to directly look at either of them. "Maybe this might not be the time."

"Really?!" Tony exclaimed while turning around to the two. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when we've created a murder bot." Melody yelled at him as Bruce pointed to her, trying to reiterate her point.

"We didn't." Tony yelled back to them. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Bruce shrugged obviously since that's what was now running loose on the planet now.

"Well, you did something right." Steve stepped in while raising his voice. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

Tony stepped back a little bit so he could have a view of everyone in the room. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

"Oh, my god." Melody whispered while throwing her head back. Yes, it was one of the scariest moments of her life, but Tony never got tired of milking it.

"No, it's never come up." Rhodey spoke sarcastically, feeling the same way as Melody.

"Saved New York?" Tony asked again as if anyone needed a reminder of what it was.

"Never heard that." Rhodey sighed out, wishing he wouldn't continue.

"Recall that?!" Everyone looked away, remembering that day as the beginning of countless nightmares and paranoia. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it." He took a pause, everyone around the room obviously understanding why Tony thought they needed this, but at what cost? "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but...that up there, that's... that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together." Steve didn't even miss a beat before saying it. It came natural.

"We'll lose." It was almost a whisper from Tony as he stepped forward to his uncle.

Steve gave him a sympathetic stare, knowing what he was feeling. He had felt that helplessness in war as well as all the problems they faced last year. "Then we'll do that together, too." There was something in Tony's face that showed he didn't truly believe Steve when he said that. "Thor's right." He turned around to the rest of the group, ready to address them with orders. "Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it small."

* * *

Melody and Clint walked to their assigned bedroom together, not daring to speak a word after their long night of scouring all databases for Ultron. They hadn't really talked to each other since what happened at the party. There wasn't time, and Melody wasn't totally sure if Clint _wanted_ to talk to her.

When the door closed behind them, they both turned to look to each other. Melody looked so small to Clint when her personality made her look so large before. "Do you hate me?" She whispered.

Clint gave her a weak smile before stepped towards her. "I could never hate you." He put a hand to her face, planting a kiss on the top of her head before looking down at her again. "I just don't understand why you didn't come to me about this."

Melody wiped a tear from her face before looking back up at Clint. "I don't know. I just thought if I told you, you would proceed to tell me how it was a bad idea." She took a deep breath before speaking again. "I knew it was a bad idea, but there was just some part of me that knew if it all tied together in a nice bow, we would be able to stay upstate forever with our kids, and we wouldn't have to worry about aliens or gods or – "

"Hey," Clint whispered to her, rubbing her face with his thumb, trying to calm her down, but the tears were already flowing down her face rapidly. "It's gonna work out, okay?" Melody gasped as she shook her head, not convinced at all. "It always works out for us."

Melody continued to gasp, wishing she could just disappear in him, and not face all the consequences that were waiting for her. "Yeah, but what if this is the one time it doesn't, and it's all my fault?"

Clint's heart broke at her tears. He hadn't seen her look this defeated in a long time, and he knew he wasn't strong enough to see her like this. Without another hesitation, he pulled her into his arms and held her as close as he could. She cried into his chest as Clint tried to do anything to make her feel better. Rock her, stroke her back, stroke her hair, give her kisses on the head. None of it seemed to work. "One day, you and I are going to retire, and we're going to retire for real this time." Melody laughed a little at that, really wishing they could. "And you, me and the kids are gonna be together in our house. Just the four of us."

Melody glanced down at her stomach, knowing it would soon be the five of them. She couldn't tell him tonight. It just didn't feel right. Tonight, would be about them, and then the next day would be about Ultron. They had to find him, and Clint had to be focused on finding him. He couldn't be constantly worried about her in the battlefield. So, in that moment she made a deal with herself. She would only tell him after they had successfully defeated Ultron. She just hoped it didn't take that long.

She looked up at Clint as he smoothed her hair back, reminding herself that tonight was about them. "Hold me." Clint began to walk forward as she walked back, the two beginning to take off their clothes. "Hold me all night." Melody took a moment to take off her dress as Clint did the same with his shirt. They didn't want to spend a moment away from each other's eyes. "And don't ever let me go."

They both collapsed on their bed, Clint on top of Melody as he looked into her eyes dreamingly. He had to assure her that no matter what, he would always love her. "Yes, ma'am." He whispered to her before pressing his lips to hers ever so softly.

* * *

Half of the team couldn't sleep so it was easy for them to get up early in the morning to continue tracking down Ultron. Just as soon as they were getting somewhere, though, Clint got a phone call. It was Barney. Melody quickly saw who the call was from before he stepped out. "Is everything okay?" She called after him.

"I'm not sure, Mel." He quickly answered over his shoulder before putting the phone to his ear.

Melody took a deep breath as she watched him, wrapping her sweater even further around her waist. She continued to think about their talk last night. He wasn't angry with her, but she just continued to think in the back of her mind that maybe he was. "Everything okay?" Natasha asked, moving a little closer to her.

Melody looked up at her, putting on her best fake smile, but Natasha could see right through that on her worst day. "Yeah. Fine."

Melody just kept watching him. Everything he did she overanalyzed, and she couldn't stop it. Steve brought Clint in and then Tony followed just when they got the picture of Strucker dead with writing in his blood on the wall behind him. The word Ultron had spelled out for them, "peace".

"What's this?" Tony asked just as Thor pressed the tablet into his chest.

"A message." Steve answered for him. "Ultron killed Strucker."

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Melody gave Tony a sarcastic smile, not really wanting to hear what harm Ultron was causing, but she knew that was the only way they were going to stop him.

"This is a smoke screen." Natasha spoke while turning to look at the computer Melody was pounding away on. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve spoke it like an assumption, but they all knew it was probably true.

Melody looked up from her laptop, giving a shrug that this was the most likely. "Yeah, I bet he..." She paused when she got to the Strucker files, finding them completely blank. She threw a hand in the air while inhaling sharply at what her little invention did. "Yeah. Everything we had on Strucker's been erased."

"Not everything." Everyone looked at Tony, but Melody sighed, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

Melody shut her laptop and looked to everyone with an irritated smile. "Time to go old school my friends."

After they lugged all the file boxes into the room, they were all sectioned off to three boxes each. Thor was getting the most irritated, throwing various files down on the floor as he went on.

"Known associates." Steve read off when he got to the file before looking to Tony who was the closest to him. "Baron Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Well," Bruce sighed out while leaning to look into Steve's pile. "These people are all horrible."

"Wait." Tony gasped before going for the file in Steve's hand and pulling it closer to his face. "I know that guy." Everyone hurried to Tony's side, trying to get a look at their possible informant. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." Steve turned to Tony, giving him a disappointed face. "There are conventions. All right?" Tony jumped in, defending himself as quick as possible. "You meet people. I didn't sell him anything."

Melody turned to her uncle, snapping in thought. "Was this the guy talking about something new?" Steve also gave her an upset face which she just shrugged to, finding a need to defend herself as well. " _Conventions_."

Tony looked to Melody giving her a little nod before looking back to the file. "Yeah, he was talking about something very new. A game-changer. It was all very Ahab."

"This?" They both turned to Thor, noticing he was pointing at something on his head.

"It's a tattoo," Melody spoke with a shrug while her eyebrows furrowed together before shaking her head. "I don't think he had it."

"Well," Clint huffed while sticking his hands in his pockets. "You obviously remember a lot about him."

Melody turned to him, her face drained. "Shut up, Clint. I was eighteen when I met him."

"Those are tattoos," Thor spoke, going back to what he was talking about, his hand going right next to something under his neck. "This is a brand."

"Yeah." Bruce spoke from the computer, running a scan of the image. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief'. In a much less friendly way."

Steve put his hands on his hips in thought. "What dialect?"

"Wakanada." They all turned their heads, knowing that place didn't sound real until Bruce readjusted his glasses and pronounced it the correct way. "Wakanda." Steve, Tony and Melody all turned to each other with wide eyes. That was an important country in their family.

Melody shook her head, knowing this was about to get even uglier. If that was even possible. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."

Steve turned from Melody to Tony once he was sure she had finished her thought. "I thought your father said he got the last of it."

"I don't follow." Bruce spoke as he got up from his chair. That's when the three were reminded there were other people in the room they really needed to include on this. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

The three of them looked to each other again before stepping out of the way so everyone could see Steve's shield resting close by. "The strongest metal on Earth."

 _ **Gigi103: I'm so glad you liked it! And yes, Emily and Fury will be showing up later on when we get to the farm. I hope you like this chapter too!**_

 _ **Guest: Thank you so much, love! I'm so glad you're liking it!**_

 _ **Alright, guys, this is a little shorter than my normal chapters, but I hope you still like it. I promise we'll get back to the action in the next one! Thanks so much for continuing to read, and remember nothing makes my day like a good ol' review!**_


	5. Safe House

Melody was slipping on her costume, Clint right next to her doing the same. "Cooper's talent show is next week."

Melody looked up, surprised he could talk since he hasn't done much of that since they've been in the jet. "Yeah, I know. I told him we'd be there."

Clint took a deep sigh as Melody turned around so Clint could zip up her body suit. "I just hope this Ultron crap is over by then."

Once she was sure the suit was completely zipped up, she leaned down to grab his arrow quiver, making him turn around so she could secure it on him. "We'll be there. We're not going to miss out on anything else, remember?"

"We can't just promise blindly, though. You know there's a good chance we won't be able to make it."

Melody sighed. She knew Clint was feeling bad lately. They had been so busy with HYDRA, and it felt like they hadn't been home in ages when really it had been two months tops. "Well, I'm almost certain that we'll make it just in time."

Melody brushed his shoulders as he turned around to look at her. His eyes were so hopeful, and that's what Melody remembered she fell in love with. She felt like they were so young then, and that they had grown so much in just five years. "You promise?"

Melody stroked his face before the two leaned in for a brief kiss. "I promise."

Clint grabbed her hand before checking her out. "Damn, three years and you still look amazing in that uniform."

Melody gave him a dramatic eyeroll before dragging him out of their changing room and into the jet where everyone was running around to get things ready last minute. "Barton," Steve called while moving right up to him, but Clint was still mesmerized by Melody as she continued to hold onto his hand. "You and Nat are flanking opposite sides."

"Yes, Captain." It was more like an automatic response, like he wasn't retaining anything. That's when Melody pulled him close so their bodies were pressed together, and they continued to kiss.

Steve sighed, knowing he caught them at the wrong time, wondering how long their fit of passion was going to last. "I hate working with couples." Steve called out to the rest of the team, the two taking that as a cue to pull away.

"Nat and I flank on opposite sides in case one of them tries to get away while you four kick some ass." Clint was saying it like he was in trouble with a teacher, forcing him to say those words. "I know, Cap."

Steve sighed before moving in closer to the two. "We just can't afford anything to go wrong today."

"We know." Melody spoke while putting a hand on his arm to assure him. "We're not going to let you down."

Steve gave her a little kiss on the cheek before hurrying off to check everything else. Melody then turned to Clint, a puzzled look on her face. "Am I the only one not freaking out about this? Am I the only one saying that everything is going to be fine? That's not my job. I'm not that person."

Clint smiled at her before clapping her on the shoulder. "You are this time around." Melody rolled her eyes at him before the team moved out on the ship.

They were creeping up on the group. Ultron was talking to Ulysses while Wanda and Pietro were standing close by, waiting on Ultron's orders. "Tony Stark used to say that. To me." They heard from Ulysses, both Tony and Melody sharing a look of confusion and panic. "You're one of his."

"What?!" Ultron exclaimed before picking up his arm. "Look at me! Do I look like Iron Man? I am not – " In a quick move, he took off Ulysses arm, Melody gasping loud enough to almost give them away. She had to grip onto a nearby railing almost gagging. She had made that thing, and it just took a man's arm off. Yes, the man was a thief, and he might have deserved it, but she never expected to be at fault for it. "I don't understand." Ultron complained again as Melody stood up, ready to take this thing down. He had to be stopped. "Don't compare me to Stark! He's a sickness!"

He kicked Ulysses, sending him down the stairs before Tony flew down to join Steve, Thor and Melody. "Junior." Tony scolded to Ultron. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to." Ultron spoke as they all moved forward.

"Nobody has to break anything."

"Clearly," Ultron scoffed at Thor. "You've never made an omelet."

Tony turned to look at Thor, defeated. "He beat me by one second."

"Yeah," Melody scoffed, giving him a disappointed face. "He's not your creation at all."

"Yes." Pietro spoke as he stepped forward. "You're funny, Stark's." Melody's eyebrows scrunched together, not sure what he was getting at. He was the one who almost killed her fiancé. "It's what?" Pietro looked off at the missiles under them. "Comfortable? Like old times?"

Melody turned to her uncle, confused with what they were talking about. "This was never my life." Tony spoke while shaking his head, only imagining what they went through with Stark weapons Obadiah traded illegally.

Steve moved forward, thinking maybe he could get these kids on the right side before they were in too deep. "You two can still walk away from this."

"Oh," Wanda spoke with fake sincerity. "We will."

Melody decided she needed to step in too. They had to realize what they were doing wrong. "I know you've suffered - "

"The super soldiers." Ultron scolded while shaking his head. "God's righteous. Pretending you could live without a war." Melody began to grind her teeth while Steve just stood there, looking unbothered. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but – "

"If you believe in peace," Thor began, trying to keep his cool with this monster. "Then let us keep it."

"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'."

"Uh huh, what's the vibranium for?" Melody asked immediately, not really minding if they got into a fight right now or not.

"I'm glad you asked that," Ultron spoke, getting just as excited for a fight as Melody was. "Because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron pulled his fist forward, and with all the energy he possessed, Tony went flying forward, and then he was pushed back into the nearest wall.

After that, Tony lost his patience, and went flying towards his latest creation with intent to kill as the rest of them fought off the robots Ultron was controlling. It also didn't help that while they were fighting, the two enhanced tried to meddle in as well.

During the fight, Ulysses ordered his men to begin shooting everyone they could. Natasha and Clint, they took care of the men while Melody, Thor and Steve continued with the robots. During all the commotion, Ultron flew right out of the ship as Tony followed. This was his responsibility, and he was going to do everything he could to stop it.

Melody tried to make her way to Wanda to stop her from whatever she had up her sleeve, but once one of the robots got in her line of sight of her, she was gone. It was like she had simply disappeared. She tried to follow her, but once she did, the girl got a hold on her mind. She felt that same sensation she felt at the HYDRA base, putting two and two together.

Melody staggered a little bit before grabbing onto a railing to set herself down. This time, she wasn't back on the farm. She was in a hospital. It was like she was the only one there. No nurses, no visitors, just her in a hospital bed. She slowly sat up, hoping to find someone else in the room with her, but the power wasn't even on.

She got off the bed and slowly moved to the door of her room, making sure to look out the window before doing so. The power was out in the hallway too. When she finally got the courage to open the door, she realized she was in the maternity ward. As she continued down the hall, she noticed the nursery. There was a baby's crying, and for some reason, she knew that was her baby.

She rushed into the nursery, wanting to comfort her baby, worried that something was wrong. Right when she was in, though, she noticed the entire place was filled with blood. She let out a terrified gasp, and as she looked around, she realized she knew the bloodied bodies around her. Barney. Clint. Lila. Cooper. Kim. Tony. Steve. Thor. Natasha. Bruce. She let out a scream, trying to shut her eyes, but it just wasn't going away.

Clint heard her scream as he continued through the ship, that's when he heard Wanda behind him. He quickly electrified his arrow before putting it to her head. Wanda got stiff and shook as the electricity pumped through her before finally falling. Clint turned back to where he heard the scream. "I've done the whole mind control thing. I'm not a fan."

That's when Pietro appeared behind him and pushed him into one of the control rooms before running off with his sister. "Yeah," Clint grunted before slightly sitting up. "You better run." He heard Melody's scream again, making him sit all the way up before looking around to try to pinpoint it. "Melody." He whispered. He quickly got up and ran off to the stairs where she was laying at the base, twitching with her eyes wide open.

His heart tightened before hurrying down the stairs, and getting on top of her, hoping to shake her awake. "Melody!" He screamed. She seemed to be seizing, but Clint didn't know what to do. "Melody!" He screamed again. Nothing. He looked to his bag of arrows, pulling out a normal one, only thinking of one way to get her out of this. "I'm sorry." He whispered before plunging the arrow into her arm.

She screamed as she sat up, seeming to be out of her dream. She was still shaking, though and gasping like she had never been more terrified. Clint began to stroke her hair while studying her face, trying to make sure she was okay. "Are you okay? Are you safe? Did they hurt you?"

Melody began to cry before falling into Clint's chest. He wasn't sure what to do, so he simply rubbed her back. "It's okay." He whispered to her while planting small kisses on her head. "I've got you. You're safe, okay?" Melody continued to cry while holding onto him as tight as he could. The scariest part of that whole vision was she wasn't sure who did the maiming and killing. Her or her baby?

* * *

Wanda had brought out the Hulk, and he destroyed the city they were in. After that, they had to get away. Clint and Melody knew the perfect place. The entire team was broken, Clint and Tony being the only ones to be able to lead at the moment. What Wanda made them all see had messed with their minds, and they weren't sure they would be able to do any proper thinking.

"The news is loving you guys." Maria reported as everyone else sat around the quinjet, all of them shaken up and some of them even shaking. "Nobody else is." Clint turned to look back at Melody, and she was just sitting on the floor, shaking. "There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air."

Tony let out a sigh, but he didn't want Maria to be too worried about them. So, he decided to get right back to business. "The Stark Relief Foundation?"

"Already on the scene." She paused before responding, only imagining how they all felt. "How's the team?"

"Everyone's..." Tony took a look around. No one was looking at each other, everyone was retreated into themselves. It wasn't pretty, and there was no way Tony could disguise that. "We took a hit." Melody finally looked around at everyone before looking back down. She wasn't sure if they would be fine anytime soon. "We'll shake it off."

"Well, for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here."

Tony leaned into the video transmission before answering. "So, run and hide?"

"Until we can find Ultron," Maria sighed, really wishing she could offer them something to be hopeful for, but there wasn't. "I don't have a lot else to offer."

Tony looked over at his daughter, watching her as she shook from fear, not saying anything to anyone. That wasn't her. Not his little girl. "Neither do we." Tony turned back to Maria, giving her a weak smile before cutting the transmission, and turning to Clint. "Hey," Clint turned slightly, still keeping his eyes on the sky. "You wanna switch out?"

"No, I'm good." Really, Clint wanted to focus on flying so he didn't think about what Melody saw in her vision. "If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time because we're still a few hours out."

Tony turned his head. He still had no idea where they were going, but when he mentioned it, Melody seemed to get slightly relieved. "Few hours from where?"

Clint took a deep sigh, thinking about how good it would be to be home. How good it would be for Melody to be home. With their kids. "A safe house."

* * *

When they landed, Clint placed his arm around Melody's shoulders, knowing she was still shaken up by what that girl made her see. Everyone followed the two, and everyone else looked confused except Natasha. It was a farm in upstate New York. That was all the rest of them knew.

When they got to the door, Clint began patting his pockets like he was looking for keys. With a little sigh, Melody pulled the spare key out from her belt. Clint looked to her, trying to show in his face how much he appreciated her. "Thank you, baby." He whispered before kissing the top of her head. That's when everyone else began to put some pieces together.

"So," Tony began. "This is your super-secret house upstate that no one gets invited to?"

Clint and Melody turned to each other, not really sure how to answer that question. Yes, they moved out of the city and lived here, but it technically wasn't their house. "Not necessarily." Melody answered as Clint unlocked the door.

Everyone looked around as they were led from the front door into the living room. "Barney?" Clint called out. "Kim?" When Clint stopped, everyone else stopped, but they were sure Clint had gone crazy since the house seemed to be empty. "We're home!"

Kim came out of the kitchen with a cautious look on her face, a hand on her swelled stomach at the look of all the Avengers in her living room. "We've got some company." Melody told her with a shy smile. "Sorry we didn't call."

"Oh, please," Kim spoke while shaking her head before moving to hug Melody. "This is your house too."

"This is an agent of some kind." Tony told the team.

"Where's Barney?" Clint asked as he went to hug Kim as well.

"Out back with the horses." She answered quickly just as the back door opened. They could all hear the excited footsteps making the three smile while the rest of the team was confused. "Incoming."

"Daddy!" Lila jumped into Clint's arms. "Melody!" Cooper nearly tackled her in a hug, and it felt so good to have that with how she was feeling.

Once Lila had noticed she completely missed out on saying hi to Melody, she began to flail out of her father's arms to get to her. "Melody!"

Melody quickly plucked her out of Clint's hands and began spinning her around making Lila laugh uncontrollably. Once Melody had finally fit Lila comfortably on her hip, she gave her a big smile. "I swear, you get more gorgeous every time I see you."

Melody began to kiss Lila's cheeks all over, it truly sinking in to Tony that his daughter was a mother figure to these children. "And these are…smaller agents." Truly, he didn't want to believe that Melody was keeping a secret life from him, but all the evidence was right there.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" Lila asked as Melody began to put her down.

Natasha began to advance towards the two with a big smile on her face. "Why don't you hug her and find out?"

Lila jumped into her arms when Cooper excitedly turned to Melody again. "Mel, I began to make my own arch reactor in the barn."

"What?" Both Kim, Barney and Clint asked as they turned to the two in shock that something could completely destroy their barn and him in any minute.

Melody quickly looked to the three with her mouth wide open before looking to Cooper. "Coop, that is amazing, and I will take a look at that so you don't kill yourself. I think that your Aunt Kim made an awesome dinner, though, so go upstairs and wash up." Cooper began to throw his head back and grunt. "Now, Cooper."

Tony watched her, noticing her perfect "mom" stance. Her arms were crossed, her voice went up in just the right spots and her hip was leaned more towards Cooper. He liked to think that maybe she got it from him.

"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve finally spoke as both the kids went upstairs.

"Yeah," Tony spoke, the sass in his voice as he stared at Melody. "We would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea you existed."

Melody rolled her eyes at him, moving in to Clint as he put his arm around her shoulders and Melody's hand to his chest. "Fury helped him set this up when he joined, that way the kids don't get involved in our work like…" Melody trailed off, realizing she shouldn't be bringing that up right now. Clint just gave her a little nod, letting her know it was okay. "Like Laura, Lila and Cooper's mom."

"Okay," Tony spoke, spinning his finger around his head like he was trying to wrap his brain around everything. "Let's start by the beginning. Who's Laura and what happened to her?"

Barney and Kim looked at each other before going back to the rest of the Avengers. "Dinner is in the kitchen after you guys have this little talk." Barney spoke just as Lila and Cooper came back downstairs. "We'll just be in there whenever you're ready."

The four of them walked into the kitchen, leaving just the Avengers there. "All right," Clint began. "I was married before to a woman named Laura, and she was the mother of my children." Clint's arm was still around Melody, gripping it a little tighter now. "And a mission I was on went bad, they found Laura and killed her." Everyone began to look down, feeling bad for how insensitive they had been a few minutes ago. "So, Fury set this up so my children wouldn't be found. They stay here with my brother and sister-in-law, and I would like to keep it that way. I figured it's a good place to lay low."

Kim poked her head out of the kitchen, looking to all of them. "Dinner's getting cold."

"Wait," Natasha spoke as she began to duck back into the kitchen. "Melody and I know your appointment was last week, and we wanna know if it was a girl or a boy."

"Yes!" Melody yelled out, running to Kim in remembrance of the bet she had going on with Natasha. "It's definitely a girl."

Kim looked between the two girls before breathing in through her teeth like she was nervous. "Sorry, Mel, it's a boy."

Natasha began to cheer as Melody just stood there with her mouth dropped. "Nathaniel, it is." Natasha rubbed it in her face, making Melody push her arm away from her.

"Melody?" Lila spoke, coming out from the kitchen looking shy.

"Yes, baby?" Melody asked while getting down on her knees to look her in the eye.

"We heard daddy bought you a pretty ring."

"Yes!" Kim yelled while looking down at Melody. "Let me see it!"

Melody began to get up off the ground with an irritated face. "Did literally everyone know?!"

"Yes." Everyone in the room answered as one, Cooper and Barney even saying it from the kitchen.

With a reluctant sigh, Melody put out her left hand so Lila and Kim could inspect it. That's when Thor accidentally stepped on one of Lila's small toy houses. Steve saw him just as Thor tried to kick it under the couch with his feet during the commotion of Melody's ring. Steve looked to him, shocked that he thought that would work while Thor just nodded to him, figuring it was a good hiding place.

As Melody described the proposal detail to detail, Lila walked up to Thor, realizing how small she was next to him. That's when Thor remembered his vision. He quickly walked out of the house, alerting everyone, but just Steve went after him. Melody kept watching after they were both out of the house, but Tony walked up to her, bringing her back in the real world. "I'm very upset you kept your family from me."

"Calm down, grandpa." Melody joked, making Tony's lips form into a straight line. "We're not even an official family until Clint and I get married."

"Bullshit." Tony mumbled as he watched Clint talk excitedly with his kids before turning back to Melody. "It's my legal right to spoil them."

Melody stepped aside before guiding her arms to the children grandly. "Be my guest."

"Gladly." Tony didn't waste any time, hurrying to the kids, leaving Melody with a smile as she shook her head. She watched him as he began to talk with Lila. He already looked like he loved her, and she couldn't wait to see Tony's face when she had a child of her own.

 _ **Guest: I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for the review, love!**_

 _ **Gigi103: They are family goals! I love writing the Barton family scenes! Here you go for the Avengers meeting the Barton family!**_

 _ **Howling2themoon: Yay! Thank you!**_

 _ **I am so sorry this took me so long to upload. I've been so busy lately with the business and we've had a lot of drama at work recently. So, thanks for bearing with me! I hope you all like this chapter! This has to be my favorite chapter of this story so far. Tell me what you think and leave a review! I hope you all enjoyed!**_


	6. Barton Family Values

It was dark outside, and Kim and Melody decided to retreat on the porch as everyone else inside was having a few beers. Melody decided it was best that she wasn't tempted. There was no way she would drink as long as she was pregnant, but it was still agonizing to watch everyone else do it. Melody kept looking at Kim's baby bump with a big smile on her face. "I can't believe how far along you are already."

Kim smiled as she put a hand to her stomach. "Yeah, time really does fly." Kim shook her head as she looked at Melody. "Coop is gonna be ten this year."

"I know." Melody sighed out. "Where the hell did all the time go?"

"I promise you, when you have your kid, you're gonna wish pregnancy didn't take as long as it did."

Melody began to chuckle while shaking her head. "I think I already feel it." Melody took a long drink of water before it dawned on her what Kim really said. Melody practically spit out her drink. "Wait, what?"

Kim began to laugh while shaking her head. "Oh, come on, Melody. You can't hide a pregnancy from a pregnant woman." She tapped her forehead while giving her a little shrug. "It's like a sixth sense."

Melody opened her mouth, trying to speak, but her voice was just coming out in stutters. "How long did you know?"

Kim smiled, thinking about her answer before giving it to her. "From the second you walked into the front door." Melody's jaw was still dropped. "Have you told Clint yet? There's no way he figured it out like me. That man can't pick up on anything."

Melody laughed while shaking her head. She should have known she wouldn't be able to keep this secret from Kim. "No." She answered while giving her a little smile. "You and Natasha are actually the only ones to know."

"Why wait so long?" Kim asked as she looked out at the stars. It was an extra clear night. You could even make out constellations.

"Trust me," Melody scoffed. "If we weren't dealing with all this Ultron stuff right now, Clint would have been the first to know." Melody began to look out at the stars just like Kim. "I just can't have him being overprotective right now." She turned to Kim, giving her a little smile. "I'll tell him after, but I need him to be here when I have our baby." She took a deep sigh as her worries worsened. "I need him to worry about himself on the front line rather than me. I can protect myself."

Kim nodded, agreeing with her. "I think that's smart." Kim noticed the conversation was getting a little too serious, and she wanted to make Melody laugh. "Because when Clint finds out you're pregnant, he will never leave you alone." Melody began to laugh. "You better enjoy your alone time now, future sister-in-law."

Melody turned to her with glowing eyes. "We're gonna be sisters-in-law a lot sooner now."

"God," Kim scoffed while nodding. "I love my life." They both leaned into each other with a laugh just as Clint was coming out to check on the two.

"Mel," Clint called, grabbing both of their attention. "You want to head to bed?"

"See." Kim whispered to Melody, making her turn around and smack her on the arm.

"Yes, darling." Melody stood up, grabbing Clint's hand and turning around back to Kim. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Kim spoke before taking another sip of her water, a devious look on her face at the fact that she now knew something about Melody that Clint didn't know.

When the two got upstairs, they changed into their pajamas, but Melody took some time inspecting the regenerated tissue on Clint. She hadn't got a chance to completely check it out since Ultron. She continued to run her hands over it as Clint scoffed at her worried face. "Can't even feel the difference, can you?"

Melody rolled her eyes at him before pulling his shirt back down. "How do you think everyone's doubling up beds right now?"

"Oh god." Clint scoffed before looking to the door. "Maybe we should have stayed up and helped."

"Shh," Melody urged, pulling his face back to hers. "If they hear us now, they're gonna drag us back out." Clint laughed at her joke, but Melody got an excited look on her face, feeling she wasn't able to talk to him in a long time. She pulled him down on the bed with her, the two crossing their legs, ready to gossip. "What do you think about Nat and Banner?"

Clint's eyebrows furrowed, not understanding what she was getting at. "What are you talking about?"

Melody began to laugh, confusing Clint even more. "Oh, my god, you are so cute."

"Nat and…Banner?"

Melody continued to laugh while fixing his hair. "I'll explain when you're older." Melody began to get worried, thinking about her conversation with Kim all over again. "When we go back out there, and we continue with going after Ultron, I need you to make sure you're safe at all times." Clint sighed. "I can heal easy, so can half the members of the team. You can't."

"So, you and the team don't need me?"

"No," Melody spoke, going back to stroking his hair. "We do, and that's what scares me the most." Melody began to laugh while shaking her head. "We're a mess."

"Yeah, my mess." Clint smiled at her, knowing there was something different before stroking her chin. "Do you want to talk about what she made you see?"

Melody took a deep breath before looking into her lap. "I don't know if you're ready for that."

"Oh, come on, Barnes," Melody looked back up at him, noticing his little smile. "You're fucked up." Melody smiled at him, feeling like Clint was the only one who truly knew everything about her. "So am I. Hell, you even wrote a book about it."

Melody let out that bubbly laugh Clint felt like he hadn't heard in ages, making his smile get even wider. "Can we talk about how they all read my book and had no idea it was me?"

"Yes!" Clint exclaimed while throwing his hands out at her. "I thought at least Tony would be able tell."

"Right?!" Melody agreed. "At least!"

Clint continued to look at her, wishing they could just stay here and not go back into the real world. "I miss talking to you."

Melody moved her hand to his shirt, right where he had got shot, rubbing it slightly. "By the way, I can feel the difference."

* * *

Tony slammed his axe down on the piece of wood, trying to get his anger out. Right when he finished, Steve did the same thing. It was the next morning, and they all still felt like sitting ducks. Especially with Thor gone now. "Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?"

Steve huffed, feeling like he needed to get some anger out too. Some of that anger directed towards his nephew. "Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things." Steve moved to pick up another log while Melody watched the two on the porch. Out of everyone on the team, she was worried the most about what an argument between them would lead to. "I was kinda hoping Thor would be the exception."

"Yeah, give him time." Melody took a large sip of her coffee, keeping her eyes glued on the two until Lila came up to her excitedly with a painting she had just finished. "We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him."

"Earth's mightiest heroes." Steve scoffed at him while bringing his axe down again. "And they pulled us apart like cotton candy."

"Seems like you walked away all right."

Tony said it kind of under his breath, so Steve decided he was going to challenge Tony right back. "Is that a problem?"

"I don't trust a guy without a dark side." Tony slammed his axe down, and Steve didn't know if he should be taking that as a threat or not. "Call me old-fashioned."

"Well, let's just say you haven't seen it yet." Steve challenged right back while swinging his axe down on the wood.

Tony let his arm with the axe hang down, but he still held onto it, still feeling anger. "You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right?"

"Well, I guess you'd know." Tony's frown deepened at his response. "Whether you'd tell us is a bit of a question." Steve continued chopping.

"Banner, Melody, and I were doing research!" Tony was raising his voice now, but Steve just continued on with his task.

"That would affect the team!" Steve placed his axe in a piece of wood and focused his eyes on Tony as Tony did the exact same thing.

The two took a step together, bringing them face to face. "That would end the team! Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the 'Why We Fight'? So, we can end the fight." Steve picked up a piece of wood, preparing to continue chopping. "So, we get to go home!"

Steve's anger reached the epitome, making him tear a long in half with his bare hands. Melody's head snapped from Lila to look at her great uncle, and so did everyone's heads around the porch. She gave Lila a little smile before telling her she had to step away. Clint watched Melody as she stepped down until she reached the two. "Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time."

"Hey," Melody called, taking them both by surprise even if she was almost right next to them. They both stepped away from each other, knowing that if they couldn't get along in that moment, they would try for Melody because she was the only family they had left. Melody knew what they were doing, though, and it made her sigh. "Tony, I was wondering if you could handle that little arc reactor situation going on in the barn."

Tony's head snapped to her in amazement. "You haven't taken care of that yet?"

"Knowing Cooper that thing has been in the barn for months, and if it hasn't exploded now, it's not going to explode anytime soon." They both let out a little chuckle as Melody fixed her smile into that innocent one she knew Tony would fall for every time. "Can you help me?"

Tony walked towards her, patting her shoulder before walking off towards the barn. Melody turned to look at Steve, giving him an apologetic stare, not really sure who's side she was on at this point, but she did know that she had to get out some anger. She picked up Tony's abandoned axe, deciding she was going to use this as a stress reliever. That's when Tony also turned around, looking at both of the piles of wood right when Melody sunk her axe into one. "Don't take from my pile." He warned the two, but Steve obviously had way more wood than Tony, and Melody was going to be able to cut the wood quicker than Tony ever would.

Melody gave him a little smile before throwing her wood into a separate pile. She turned to look at Steve before grabbing another piece of wood. "Would it kill you to be a little easier on him?"

"I don't like this Ultron mess." Steve scolded at her before swiftly taking his axe down. Melody couldn't help but imagine Steve thought of her while committing this action.

"Well then if you're mad at him, you should be mad at me too."

Steve finally looked up at her while going to get more wood. "I didn't say I wasn't."

Melody looked down, feeling like she was being scolded by a teacher. "Ouch." She whispered while slamming her axe on the wood.

"I just want to know what the hell you were thinking." Steve snapped on her.

"I was thinking about saving _all_ of us!"

"Melody, you have to realize somewhere down the line there is a difference between saving and destroying!"

"I – " That's when Melody felt a sharp pain in her stomach and doubled over with a painful groan.

"Melody?" Steve asked while rushing to her side, not sure what was happening.

When Clint heard that slightly distressed call of his fiancé's name, he looked up in panic. When he saw her doubled over, he stopped what he was doing with Cooper and hurried down the porch steps. "Melody!"

Both Barney and Kim hurried out of the house at the sounds. Kim was hurrying to her quicker than Barney since she was the nurse, and one of the only people who knew she was pregnant. "Melody," Kim began calmly, the complete opposite of how Clint was acting.

"Oh my god." Melody whispered, feeling pressure all through her sides.

"Melody," Clint anxiously asked, trying to move his head so he could see her face. "What's going on?"

"Everybody, move!" Kim demanded as she tried to pull Melody to the house. Melody just continued to cry, but everyone moved back as Kim demanded. Everyone except Clint. Barney had to hold onto him as Kim walked her into the house.

Everyone continued to stand there, not sure what to do when Tony came walking out of the barn with Emily and Fury trailing behind him. "Guess who I found in the barn."

They all didn't know what was more shocking. Melody seeming to double over in pain out of nowhere or that Nick Fury and Emily Carter just walked out of the barn like it was a normal occurrence. Clint took that opportunity to move out of Barney's grip and hurry into the house after them.

Tony, Emily and Nick all looked to Steve confused as Steve tried to figure out what to tell them. "Melody felt a bad pain in her side and Kim brought her in the house."

Tony didn't even wait after that. "Melody!" He called before running after Clint, Emily following him immediately until everyone else followed.

Kim hurried Melody into one of the bedrooms and began looking her over. "What the hell is wrong with me?" Melody gasped while holding onto her sides.

Kim looked to Melody's face almost panicked. "Are they contractions?"

"I don't know." Melody groaned out. "Maybe."

"Okay," Kim began calmly, but her eyes were filled with fear and confusion. "It could be Braxton Hicks contractions, but it's way too early for that."

"Any other ideas?" Melody breathed out through the pain.

"I don't know." Kim panicked before looking back up to her face. "This is my first time inspecting a pregnant super soldier."

"Melody!"

Melody sat up, knowing that was Clint's voice. "I'm fine!" Melody was still gripping her sides in agony, but the pain was starting to die down. That's when everyone else ran into the room after Clint, everyone talking at the same time, trying to make sure she was okay.

"Round ligament pain!" Kim yelled out, everyone around growing quiet at her sudden outburst. "It's just round ligament pain in her abdomen, she must have pulled something during the fight and she's feeling it now."

Melody just nodded at Kim's words, knowing no one here would know better. "Don't scare me like that!" Tony then yelled at her. That's when everyone else continued talking about how scared they were when it happened, making Melody and Kim look to each other in irritation, knowing there was no way they could win.

Clint moved to crouch on the ground next to her, grabbing her hands in his. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She stared at him before bringing his hands to her lips, giving those rough hands the softest kiss she could. "I promise you." She gave him a little smile, but then she remembered who she saw in this room that wasn't here before. She turned her head to the side, noticing Fury standing right by her. "Mom?"

* * *

Everyone hung out around the kitchen, Clint's arm was around Melody's shoulders and Tony was playing darts with the two masters of aim towards the backdoor. Natasha was at the table with Steve standing in the doorway in between the kitchen and living room close to Natasha as Nick and Emily leaned against the island in the kitchen. Everyone had eaten, and the kids were in bed so it was just the Avengers down stairs to talk about their new strategy. "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time." Nick told them as Natasha looked down at the painting of a butterfly Lila gave her earlier that night. Melody and Clint both smiled at that. Natasha would always be the best aunt those two had.

"Our contacts all say he's building something." Melody turned to her mother, actually missing the British accent she felt like she hadn't heard in ages. "The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

Steve looked off at Lila's painting as well, smiling slightly. He didn't have much family left, and once Clint and Melody were married, she and Cooper would be his family. He had to keep the world safe for what little family he had left. "What about Ultron himself?"

"He's easy to track." Nick spoke, brushing his question off. "He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit."

Emily rolled her eyes at his reference before moving to take a seat at the table with Natasha. "It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony asked as he poked his head in to get a better look at the two.

"Yes, he is." Tony ducked his head back to the dart board, lining up his shot, knowing he had to do better than both of them. "But he's not making any headway."

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony scoffed before making his shot. He did well, but not well enough.

"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that." Emily sighed out, really wishing Rhodey was there. He always did really good about calming her down in stressful situations.

"Nexus?" Steve questioned.

Melody was next to line up her shot, but she thought it was best if she explained what Nexus was to Steve first. "It's the world internet hub in Oslo. Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So, what did they say?" Clint asked, feeling the dart in his hand burn with anticipation.

"He's fixated on the missiles." Emily told them.

"But the codes are constantly being changed." As Fury spoke, Clint got a great idea. Tony was going towards the dart board to retrieve is dart. All Clint needed to do was give Melody a look to know what he was thinking, and she was on board.

Tony pulled his dart out and turned to Emily. "By who?" That's when the two shot their darts off at the same time, the two almost ending up on top of each other, and right in front of Tony's nose. He was scared when it first happened, but he knew the culprits wouldn't have done it if there was any chance it would hit Tony. He looked to the two disappointed as Clint shrugged, and Melody laughed quietly into his shoulder.

Fury and Emily shared a look, not sure if they wanted to tell the team this upsetting information. "Parties unknown." Nick finally decided.

Natasha looked directly across the table to Emily. "Do we have an ally?"

"Ultron's got an enemy." She told her with a shrug. "That's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"We might need to visit Oslo." Bruce spoke, coming into the conversation a little more. "Find our unknown."

"Well, this is good times, boss," Natasha told both Nick and Emily with a big smile on her face. "but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

"We do." Nick spoke with a shrug. "We have you." They all took deep breaths, not sure if that was enough to stop this lunatic. "Back in the day, we had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world."

Emily nodded silently before deciding to speak. She turned around to look at her daughter, giving her a slight smile, knowing if anyone here could stop Ultron, it would be her and the team. "Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So, stand, and outwit the platinum bastard." Melody smiled at her mom, loving how much she had changed in the past few years.

Melody's eyes then drifted up to Steve, thinking of something that would annoy him. "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk."

Steve didn't even smile. He just looked to her, irritated as she gave him the biggest smirk she could. "You know what, Barnes?" Clint laughed and put his head in her neck, finding comfort there in the small time they had to just take a breather.

"So, what does he want?" Nick asked, moving to sit down next to Emily, looking around at everyone else, feeling like he was finally the man watching them plan.

"To become better." Steve spoke, following what he was doing. "Better than us."

"He keeps building bodies." Melody spoke with her thinking look on.

"Person bodies." Tony elaborated. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

Natasha turned to look at the three who were in a close proximity to each other with an irritated stare. "When you three programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

Melody looked to her annoyed, but then Bruce began talking while stepping forward in thought. "They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve."

Once he was finished with that sentence, Clint gave him a terrified look. "Ultron's going to evolve?"

"How?" Nick asked while leaning in slightly.

Bruce looked around at everyone, hating that he was going to have to be the one to bring everyone to this frightening realization. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" They all looked to each other, scared for what they realized, and scared for their lives along with their human race.

After that, they all bolted and began to get ready, knowing now was the time to get back in the game. As everyone was flooding out, the three leaders, Steve, Tony, and Melody, stopped to talk things over. "I'll take Natasha and Clint." Steve told them.

Melody took a deep breath, wishing Clint would stay close to her so she should make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid, but he was one of the best spies in the business. She understood why he wanted the pair. "All right."

"Strictly recon." Tony instructed as he looked back and forth between the two. "We'll hit the Nexus." Tony spoke while pointing towards Melody. "I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron's really building a body..."

Steve trailed off as Melody took a deep sigh, knowing exactly where he was going with this sentence. "He'll be more powerful than any of us."

"Maybe all of us." Tony spoke while shaking his head, still hating himself for what he did.

"An android designed by a robot." Steve scoffed while looking back and forth at the two. "You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me."

"We'll drop Banner off at the tower." Nick spoke, walking by them while putting on his jacket. "You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"

"She's all yours." Tony then thought on how Maria had contacted him in the first place. "Apparently."

Melody furrowed her eyebrows at her mother, knowing that mischievous look on her face. Emily Carter was up to something. "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know." She sighed as she moved forward, placing a hand on her cheek. "Something dramatic, I hope." She leaned forward to give Melody a light kiss on her hair before walking out of the house.

Everyone began to walk out of the house just as Clint approached Melody, the two standing in the living room, knowing this was probably going to be the most dramatic fight they've ever come to. Clint grabbed her hands, moving to her fingers, the only part in their hands that weren't gloved. "I'm gonna finish reflooring that sunroom as soon as I get back." Clint whispered to her.

Melody let out a loud laugh before shaking her head at him. "Yeah, then you'll find another part of the house to tear apart."

"No." Clint promised, moving even closer to her. If they were even closer they would be the same person. "It's the last project." Melody's eyes widened, realizing in that moment that he wasn't talking about the house. He was talking about the Avengers. He was talking about retiring. Both of them retiring. "I promise."

Melody gave him a little smile. Sure, she would miss doing what she loved with the people she loved, but it was time. With the baby, she knew she had to be done. "I would like that."

Clint then pressed his lips to hers, giving her a passionate kiss, knowing this was truly the start of the rest of their lives. Melody ran her hands through his hair which she knew he adored, making him kiss her even harder. "Hey!" They heard from outside, knowing that was Natasha's voice. "You two wimps coming or not?"

They pulled apart with irritated smiles on their faces while shaking their heads. Even if they would no longer be a part of the Avengers, there was no way they could get rid of the people.

 _ **Howling2themoon: Thanks for always being there and reviewing!**_

 _ **Guest (1): Aww yay! I'm glad you liked the family moments. I love the Barton family! Thanks for the review!  
**_

 _ **Guest (2): Thanks! I love writing Melody, and I love that you love to read about her. Thank you!**_

 _ **Hey, y'all. I'm really sucking at updating. I actually got promoted at my job so working is all I've been doing. Well, working and sleeping. I hope you all like this new chapter, and can forgive me for being a bad updater. Remember to review!**_


	7. Vision

"A hacker who's faster than Ultron?" Melody asked, trying to make sure she heard the Nexus workers right. She barely took her eyes off the screen, her fingers still flying with Tony doing the exact same thing next to her, both of their minds still having the ability to carry on a conversation. "He could be anywhere."

"And as this is the center of everything," Tony began, not even missing a beat in their constant typing. "We're just a father and daughter looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack."

One of the workers walked up to the two sheepishly. She wasn't sure how to approach them, scared that if she said anything, they would mess everything up. "How do you find it?"

"It's pretty simple." Melody spoke while finally tearing her face from the screen to give her a little smile. She knew the two could be intimidating when they were in the zone, and she was trying to be better at that "You bring a magnet."

"I'm decrypting nuclear codes and you don't want me to." Tony sang out absentmindedly, hoping this would finally be the chance they had to end Ultron, and get their lives back. Once they were done, Melody looked to Tony, taking a deep breath. He moved to grab her hand as the two looked back to their computer screens with deep breaths. "Come and get us."

Melody looked back to Tony before pulling him on with her. "We have to get back to everyone else, and I have to get a suit before we face Ultron because I am not going to be grounded in a fight with him while my jumping is especially wonky." Tony stopped, though, and Melody turned around to look at him, recognizing the wheels turning in his head. He wasn't saying a thing. Just looking at her. And she knew that when he looked like that, he was usually afraid to tell her what he had up his sleeve. "What?"

Tony moved closer to her, looking her right in the eye before beginning to speak. "I have an idea…and you're either gonna hate it or be on board." Melody studied his face, not sure if she could pick the idea off of his face or not. She simply crossed her arms and looked him up and down, ready for him to explain.

* * *

The team was infiltrating their way into Seoul, Clint dropping Steve off at Helen Cho's lab. Clint and Natasha had to worry about the fighting if it escalated to that level. When Steve hurried into the building, he was too late to catch Ultron. Helen was discarded on the floor with blood staining her white uniform along with her other workers. "Dr. Cho!" Steve yelled out while hurrying to her, helping her sit up.

He quickly began to apply pressure to her wound, afraid of how deep Ultron had cut her. "He's uploading himself into the body."

Steve looked back to her face with shock on his. "Where?" Helen only gasped, Steve looking up to find something to hold her wound for her while he went out and stopped Ultron.

Helen brought him back to her by pulling on his arm, knowing that if she didn't make this, she had to do something to ensure Ultron would be stopped. "The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem... its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark."

"First, I have to find it." He assured her, having to let her know that he would do anything in his power to stop Ultron.

"Go!" She yelled to him, knowing if he stayed with her like he wanted to, he would be here all day.

With a regretful stare, Steve tied up her wound, not sure if she would live or die. Then, he ran off. "Did you guys copy that?"

"We did." Clint reported in the jet as he was looking over the whole city, trying to find Ultron the best way he knew how. With a bird's eye view.

"I got a private jet taking off across town." Natasha reported while she checked all the security cameras in the city, actually wishing Melody was here. She was way better at this than she was. She probably could have found Ultron before Steve even reported he was missing. No manifest. That could be him."

Clint looked around until his eyes finally fixated on what they needed. "There. It's a truck from the lab." Natasha moved her head, trying to locate it. She still didn't understand how Clint and Melody could do this so quickly. "Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. You got three with the Cradle, one in the cab." Clint took a deep sigh, knowing this was something he could do to put a dent in Ultron's plan, but he didn't want to do it at all. He didn't want a battle to break out in the middle of this city, but this was starting to feel like the only way. "I could take out the driver."

"Negative." Steve yelled at him, making Clint breathe a little easier knowing that it wouldn't come down to that. "That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron." Steve positioned himself, taking a deep breath before getting a running start and landing on top of the truck.

Ultron heard it, knowing exactly what it was, afraid they were here to take his vision. "No, no, no, no." He whispered over and over again. Steve descended so he was holding onto the back door of the truck just as Ultron shot out at him. The door was thrown back and then shot off. The door was grating on the street while Steve had no other choice but to hold on to it while it dragged him.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy." Steve scoffed before looking into the truck. "I'm gonna try and keep him that way."

"You're not a match for him, Cap." Clint's voice came out more monotone than panic, making Steve nod in defeat.

"Thanks, Barton."

* * *

Tony and Melody walked into Tony's lab where Bruce was waiting for them, and Clint had just arrived. They had just lost Natasha to Ultron, and they were all shaken up, but what Tony and Melody were about to introduce to Bruce and hide from Clint was driving them both crazy. "This isn't going to work." Melody growled to Tony while playing with her engagement ring.

"Have faith in the plan." Tony spoke through his teeth, trying not to draw attention to either of them. "For once. Please?"

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked once he saw both Tony and Melody walk in.

Melody hurried past Bruce, only focused on greeting Clint at the moment, knowing Bruce would understand. Once Clint saw her, he met her halfway, placing his face in the crook of her neck as his arms tightly wrapped around her waist. Melody made sure to run her fingers through his hair to make him calm down. It always worked. Clint sighed into her neck, feeling his breath hitch. "He just took her like it was nothing." He pulled away from the hug so he could study her face. Melody began to stroke his cheeks with her thumbs trying to calm him down, but it seemed like he was on the edge of a panic attack, something they both knew so well. "Melody if he – "

"Hey," Melody whispered, trying to calm him down. "It's okay. We're gonna get her back, okay?" She gave him a ghost of a smile as he began to nod with her reassurances. "Our kids are gonna have their favorite aunt."

Clint let out a tearful chuckle while shaking his head. "Don't let Kim know that."

Melody nodded before leaning in and kissing him, knowing he needed it right now more than anything. "We're gonna need to access the program," Melody and Clint broke away from their kiss once they heard Bruce and Tony walking up to them, the two standing right next to Ultron's almost body. "Break it down from within."

Tony gave Melody a slight nod he was sure the rest of them couldn't see. "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the Internet? Old-school spy stuff?"

Clint nodded, his wheels already turning. "There are some nets I can cast. Yeah, I'll find her."

Clint turned to leave, but Melody caught his hand, knowing he was going to be pissed at her when he found out what they were really doing. She pulled him in for a passionate kiss which the other two would usually gag at, but they were going to let them have a moment considering what they all just went through, losing one of their own. When Melody pulled away, she looked into Clint's eyes, wishing she could tell him in some way that everything she was doing was to keep him and their family safe. "I love you." She whispered to him as sincere as she could make it, hoping he would remember that no matter how mad he got at her.

Clint pet her head while giving her a little smile, and giving her one last kiss on the top of her head. "I love you too." He hurried off to go find Natasha as Melody continued to watch the door he went out of.

"I can work on tissue degeneration if you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."

Both Tony and Melody gave each other a quick look before turning back to Bruce. "Yeah, about that." They both said at the same time.

Bruce looked up at the two, knowing exactly what was running through their heads, and this time was slightly more terrifying than last time. Mostly because this time he had Melody on his side instantly. "No."

"You have to trust us." Tony assured while moving closer to Bruce.

Bruce simply took a step back. "Kind of don't."

"Our ally...the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes," Tony brought up the orange ball of energy they all knew as Jarvis.

Bruce looked to the ball shocked, thinking they had seen the last of him. "We found him." Melody almost whispered, scared Clint would still be able to pick up the conversation they were having.

"Hello, Dr. Banner." Jarvis greeted, making Melody smile, scared she would never hear one of her favorite voices ever again.

"Ultron didn't go after Jarvis because he was angry." Melody explained while she moved closer to Bruce, him actually letting her, not being as afraid of her as he was of Tony. She was definitely the more rational one, and if he was going to listen to either of them, he was more inclined to listen to Melody. "He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do."

"So," Tony jumped in, Bruce actually jumping at the power of his voice next to Melody's calm and soothing one. "Jarvis went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols."

Melody brought her hands up as she talked, one of the things she did when she was really passionate of whatever science she was talking about. "He didn't even know he was in there until _we_ pieced him together."

"So," Bruce spoke slowly, making sure he was able to get their evil plan right. "You want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing?"

"No! Of course not." Tony assured him while shaking his head. "I wanna help you and Melody put Jarvis in this thing."

Melody hurried to Bruce's side to give him a big smile which he automatically shook his head to. "We're out of my field, here." Tony spoke, making Bruce look back to him with an exhausted face. "You know bio-organics better than anyone, and Melody's not that good as you, but she did get a one hundred in biochem."

"Gee," Melody scoffed, the sarcasm in her throat. "Thanks. Not like you could have said I'm an award-winning scientist or anything."

"And you just assume that Jarvis's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?" Bruce asked, ignoring the bickering in between.

"Jarvis has been beating him from inside without knowing it." Melody spoke, taking over completely, knowing a lot more about biochemics than Tony did. "This is the opportunity. We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality."

"We have to." Tony added.

"I believe it's worth a go." Bruce didn't even have time to think before Jarvis shouted out his approval.

Bruce looked like he was about to explode from not being able to fathom what was going on. "I'm in a loop! I'm caught in a time loop. This is _exactly_ where it all went wrong."

"I know." Melody laughed out, understanding how he was feeling more than anyone. "I know." She laughed out again while shrugging. "Trust me, hearing this after what happened the first time, I almost went running for the hills, but with this, we could repair what we've damaged."

Bruce sighed as he looked to Melody. Bruce thought it was crazy that this was making sense to him again, but Melody was one of the only people he knew who had a proper head on her shoulders. If she was here defending this project right off the bat, then what was stopping him if it felt right? "We know what everyone's gonna say, but they're already saying it. We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it." Melody nodded as her uncle continued to speak, the two just making more sense to Bruce than before. "Make a stand."

"It's not a loop." Bruce turned back to Melody who was giving him a reassuring smile about their little Frankenstein project. "It's the end of the line."

So, the three went to work with a now more positive state of mind on fixing Ultron's mistake. Bruce and Melody were fixated on the machine and the gem inside of it while Tony did all their computer work. "The framework is not compatible." Tony responded.

Melody peeked into the machine as Bruce continued with the monitor. "The genetic coding tower is at 97%."

Melody popped her head up from the machine and turned to Tony with a commanding point. "You have _got_ to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."

A loud stomp distracted all three of them, and when they turned to see where it had come from, Steve was standing there, still in his uniform, but with the twins right behind him. "I'm gonna say this once."

"How about 'none-ce'?" Tony shot back without a second to waste as Melody protectively moved in front of the machine.

"Shut it down!"

"Nope, not gonna happen." Tony continued his banter with Steve, but Melody's eyes weren't leaving the twins, still wanting to kill Pietro for what he did to Clint when they first met them.

"You don't know what you're doing." Steve shouted to Tony again.

"And you do?" Melody asked as she took a step closer, feeling betrayed more than anything that Steve saw that he could side with the Maximoff twins rather than his own family. "She's not in your head?"

"I know you're angry." Wanda spoke as she stepped out from behind Steve. Melody got a murderous feeling, knowing that she could end her in just thirty seconds.

"We're way past that." Bruce scoffed, not breaking his glare with her. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Banner," Steve spoke calmly, everyone turning to look at him in confusion after everything that they did to them. "After everything that's hap..."

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouted, losing his patience with his uncle.

"You don't know what's in there." Wanda finally yelled.

"This isn't a game!" Steve yelled back.

Melody opened her mouth, about to argue when in an instant, Pietro was holding the power cord for the machine, terrifying the three scientists. "No, no. Go on." He spoke in a cocky voice as Melody watched him with her jaw dropped. "You were saying?"

Before Melody could fling herself at him in a fight, a bullet shot from the ground, and that's when she remembered where Clint was doing all of his work. "Pietro!" Wanda moved forward so Melody brought out her gun, aiming it right between her eyes.

"Don't move." Melody threatened while giving her a slight smirk.

"What?" Clint asked Pietro now that Clint was standing in front of him while he was helpless on the floor, the roles finally reversed. "You didn't see that coming?"

A beep from the machine broke the silence in the room, Melody finally looking away from Wanda. "I'm rerouting the upload."

Wanda then moved forward, trying to knock the gun out of Melody's hands, but she forgot one little thing. Melody was a super soldier. With the knock of a hip, Melody sent Wanda to the floor. Steve then threw his shield at Tony, but Tony was ready with his Iron Man hand. He sent a blast of energy into Steve's chest, knocking him to the floor. Melody then advanced towards Wanda on the ground with a sinister smirk. "Go ahead, piss me off."

Clint came up from the underground part of the lab with his gun ready just as Bruce pulled Wanda up and put her in a choke hold. Wanda didn't waste time, elbowing him in the gut before throwing him down with her power. Melody moved to her, knocking her down before she could do anything else, quickly turning into a wrestling match between the two girls. Melody had the strength, but Wanda had the power.

Melody finally got a good grip on her throat and began to strangle Wanda just when Thor rushed into the room. Everyone stopped their various fights to look at him just when he collected all the lightening he could in his hammer.

Everyone got up, knowing what he was going to do, but not knowing the affect it would have on the Cradle. "Wait!" Bruce yelled, beginning to run to it, but he didn't make it in time for Thor to send down all the lightening he could muster on Ultron's creation.

When he was done, there was a pause, all of them looking to each other, not sure what to do. That's when the Cradle burst open, sending Thor into one of the windows of the workshop. It got out of the Cradle, a fist down on the machine and its legs backward. Everyone stood still, not sure if this would turn out to be good or evil. It's skin was purple, and the yellow stone in its forehead was gleaming next to the shiny gold on its head as well as random parts in the body. He looked to everyone in the room before setting his eyes on Thor. He charged him, but Thor threw him into the other room, but he stopped himself before he could fall through the city of New York, simply hovering by the window.

They all gave each other a confused look before hurrying into the living room, trying to find out what the hell was going on. Thor brought his hand out to the rest of them, forbidding them from attacking. The thing looked at his reflection in the glass seeming…awed.

He then turned around to everyone else in the room and hovering over to them before finally landing. "I am sorry." It spoke. Both Tony and Melody shared a look, knowing they would recognize that voice anywhere. "That was...odd." He then turned to look at Thor, giving him a quaint nod. "Thank you." Thor nodded back to him just as the man grew a cape and an outfit out of thin air.

"Thor," Steve began, making Melody roll her eyes at everything he had caused. "You helped create this?"

"I've had a vision." Thor spoke grandly, everyone relieved he was finally talking since they were all hopelessly confused. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that." He ended by pointing at the gem in the man's head, making Bruce step forward in confusion, terrified that he made another awful mistake.

"What? The gem?"

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

Melody then stepped forward, her arms crossed in defense, afraid of the same thing Bruce was afraid of. "Then why would you bring..."

"Because Stark and Barnes are right."

There was a moment of silence as Tony and Melody turned to each other with confused faces before Bruce eventually talked. "Oh, it's definitely the end times."

They each gave Bruce an irritated glare before Thor began talking again. "The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron. Not alone."

"Why does your Vision sound like Jarvis?" Clint asked as he stepped forward. Was he particularly happy with Melody? No. Especially after everything they said to each other before she began building this thing, but he had to admit, he saw where she was coming from, and knew why she did it. He just wished she would have been open enough to tell him.

"We reconfigured Jarvis's matrix..." Tony whispered, just about as shocked as everyone else about what was happening. "To create something new."

"I think I've had my fill of new." Steve muttered from under his breath.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron." The man nodded understandingly, knowing why there was so much tension around his appearance.

"You're not?"

"I'm not Ultron. I am not Jarvis. I am…" He seemed confused, making Melody and Clint look to each other in interest. He was brand new. He had no impressions from anyone yet. He was no one yet. He really wasn't Ultron, but that didn't mean he was automatically on their side. "I am."

Wanda moved closer to him, Pietro not far behind just in case anything happened to his sister. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

"Look again."

"Okay," Melody spoke with all the snark she could muster up, still not understanding why Steve thought bringing her here would be a good idea. "Her seal of approval means jack to me."

Wanda moved towards her, Melody not hiding from the challenge Wanda was presenting as she moved forward as well. The two girls looked like they were about to get into another fight with Clint flanking his fiancé and Pietro flanking his sister. Thor then stepped in between the two, knowing what was going to happen better than anyone when someone challenged Melody. "Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone. And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side..."

"Is it?" Steve cut off, everyone understanding where he was coming from with everything that had just happened, but this was Thor they were talking about. They could trust Thor and his judgement. "Are you? On our side?"

He got a thinking look on his face before looking to Steve with his answer. "I don't think it's that simple."

"Well, it better get real simple real soon." Clint threatened while taking a natural, protective step in front of Melody.

"I am on the side of life." He spoke with a shrug, trying to show his alliance in the best way he could explain it. "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You."

"Where?" Melody growled out, ready to end this son of a bitch after everything he had done to her, her family and her planet.

"Sokovia." Clint answered softly, thinking about his other friend and what she was experiencing right now. "He's got Nat there, too."

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce lowered his voice in a threat, making everyone pay attention to him because it wasn't common for him to use that voice. "If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..."

"What will you do?" No one knew how to react to that sentence. The way he said it made it seem like he wasn't taking the threat seriously. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So, he must be destroyed." He moved towards the window again, his eyes showing pain at taking someone out, and they all remembered when they had that innocence. "Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster." He whispered out while looking down at his hands, everyone there relating greatly to what he was saying because at one point in time, they were all him. "I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So, there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go."

Everyone's eyes grew wide once he turned around and they all saw what he was holding. Mjölnir. They were all dumbfounded. This was something they were all trying to lift not even a week ago. This was a constant argument on who could lift the hammer. The Avengers would literally get into fights about this, and here was this new guy who just picked it up like it was nothing. Clint and Melody couldn't hide their shock with their mutual jaw drop at the sight. Bruce's eyes were the widest they had ever been. Tony's head was all the way to the side, and Steve, he looked terrified. Thor took the hammer as he handed it to him, and looked terrified that someone was actually able to pick it up. This was worse than when Steve and Melody made it quake. This was someone who could take his world right out from under him. After the man left the room, Bruce watched him, not being able to take his eyes off of him, and Clint struggled with putting together a sentence he really wanted to right now.

"Right." Thor whispered while patting his hammer before moving to Tony and clapping him on the back. "Well done." They all watched Thor walk out, Tony with a slight smirk, but everyone else still just as wide eyed as before.

"Three minutes." Steve alerted, bringing everyone back into the dire situation they had ahead of them. "Get what you need."

Melody and Clint turned to look at each other, Clint giving her a small smile as Melody looked worried. "I am so – "

"Hey," Clint whispered, bringing her chin up so they could make eye contact. "I think you're able to get a few secrets after I hid my entire life from you when we first met."

Melody let out a tear-filled laugh. She didn't even notice the tears until she chuckled. Clint moved her forward and gave her a small peck. "I love you." Melody whispered to him, and it was in that moment that Melody knew she had to tell him. Before this big battle. Before anything happened to them. Before she regretted anything. She had to tell him she was pregnant. "And I really need to talk to you before we leave." Clint turned his head slightly, realizing how serious her voice had gotten, not understanding what else she needed to get off her chest. "Nothing bad." She told him with a slight smile as she began to pull him away from the rest of the team. "I promise."

 _ **PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AND VOTE IN THE REVIEWS BECAUSE I'M GENUINELY CURIOUS ABOUT YOUR OPINIONS!**_

 _ **Gigi103: Aww! Thank you for calling Melody the best OC! I just love writing her, and I'm happy you love reading her adventures! And yes, Mel and Clint get me every time. Is it selfish to say that your own OC is a member of your OTP? I don't care, Clintelody are my OTP lol.**_

 _ **Howling2themoon: It was just a cover, and in the next chapter I'm gonna write more about what actually happened to her. ;)**_

 _ **NicoleBeverley234: Dude! I cannot wait to write Civil War! It's gonna be so epic! There's a lot I have planned for that story. And I love how in my version it's just gonna be one huge family fight since every major player is related. It's gonna be a mess, but in the best way possible. Thanks for the review!**_

 _ **Princess2017: We're going to find out in the next chapter!**_

 _ **Okay, guys, I've gotten onto a more normal writing schedule since we just hired a new girl, so I'm not going to be working as much as I am right now (which is almost every day) and our event is finally over (hallelujah!). You guys are getting so excited for Civil War in the reviews, and so am I! Tell me who's side you think Melody is going to! Team Cap or Team Iron Man? Thanks for the read and remember to review!**_


	8. Surprise

Clint sat there, mulling over everything Melody had just told him. He didn't really know what he was feeling. Joy? Shock? Anger? Fear? He couldn't pin it down to one thing, but whatever he was feeling, it was mixture of all of that. "When were you going to tell me?" He whispered.

"After all of this mess." Melody whispered out while holding onto his hands, terrified with how he was going to react. So far, he had been quiet. That's what worried her more than anything. "If you knew, all I would be doing was sitting in the quinjet out of your fear that something would happen to me during a fight."

Clint finally met her eyes, giving her hands a little squeeze. "No, I'd be in terror. I'm terrified." Clint whispered to her. "I'm terrified something's going to happen in this final fight, and I won't be able to protect you."

"Clint," Melody whispered out, moving closer to him, making sure they were looking each other right in the eye. "I don't need you to protect me right now. I need us to be the most selfish people on the team." Clint wasn't sure what she was getting at, but Melody was shaking from fear. "For obvious reasons, I have to come out alive, but I need you to come out alive too." She let out a sniffle, trying to shake the thoughts out of her head. "I cannot do this without you, Clint."

"Hey," He whispered while pulling her into his lap and into a hug. Her shakes were uncontrollable as he pat her back. She was breaking his heart. Through everything they had been through, he had never seen her this frightened. "We're coming out of this alive. Both of us." He pulled his head away from her, making Melody look down at him, and him up at her. "We're always fine. Sure, there's a little emotional scarring every now and then." Melody let out a loud laugh as she tried to wipe the tears off her face. "But we always make it."

Melody let out ragged breaths as she tried to stop her tears, feeling just a little better now. "You promise?"

He gave her a tight smile, finding himself about to cry too. "Darling, when have I ever broke a promise?"

Melody let out a slightly calm breath before wrapping her arms around his neck and taking deep breaths. Clint rubbed her back again, trying to calm her. To be honest, he had never been more terrified about any other mission. He knew Melody was capable of protecting herself, but the risks were just so high. Last time with Bucky, her injuries were so bad she almost died even as a super soldier. If anything like that happened again, they could lose their baby. He knew Melody needed him to be selfish in this fight, but he couldn't if Melody was in danger.

"Do me one favor." Melody whispered to him before pulling away from their hug.

Clint looked up at her, feeling like this would be one of their last moments. For some reason, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. The feeling that someone wouldn't make it out of this fight. And if it came down to him and Melody, he would risk himself for her and their baby. "Anything."

"Please don't tell anyone else until after this whole Ultron thing is over."

"Who knows?" Clint asked, it suddenly occurring to him that there was no way she could keep this secret to herself for this long.

"Nat, Kim and my mom."

"Wait a minute," Clint spoke, leaning backwards in confusion. He could understand how Natasha and Kim knew. Her and Natasha were acting weird on the night of the big party, and she had been spending a lot more time with Kim than anyone else when they were at the house. He didn't understand how Emily fit into this. "When did you have time to tell your mother?"

Melody rolled her eyes at him for not considering this form of communication earlier. "Texting exists, you know?" Clint let out a little laugh. She was just so cute. It reminded him more how important it was that she got out of this alive no matter what happened to him. "Just please don't tell Tony or Steve. They're already overprotective enough, I don't want to know how they'll behave when they find out I'm pregnant." Clint shrugged, understanding where she was coming from. "Or how emotional they'll get." Clint then gave her an exaggerated nod, knowing exactly what she was talking about. Those two would be a mess, and he wasn't looking forward to seeing it so close to taking down Ultron.

"One more question," Clint sighed as Melody nodded, eager to answer anything he needed to know about all of this. "The whole round ligament pain?"

"Yeah," Melody scoffed out. "That would be the freak gene. I asked my mom about it, and she got the same exact thing. Believe it or not, the doctors said it was _normal_ when she was pregnant with me."

Clint laughed a little at what she said, knowing she was always going to struggle with not being normal, but honestly, Clint wouldn't have it any other way. "Think about it this way," Clint told her with a bigger smile. "Our kid is gonna be badass."

"Hell yeah." Melody spoke obviously. Even if she hated the freak gene, she knew her kid was going to be the badass on the playground. Girl or boy.

* * *

The rest of the Avengers were used to a quick change, but the Maximoff twins weren't. The Avengers were sitting on the quinjet, waiting for the twins as a solemn silence passed over them. For some reason, there was a lingering in the air that someone wasn't going to make it. So, as the sun was rising, they sat together, spending what could be one of their last moments together.

"No way we all get through this." Tony finally voiced aloud. Melody picked her head up from Clint's shoulder to make eye contact with him. He had to keep his promise with her. They both had to make it out of this. As she looked around, though, she couldn't imagine what life would be like without any of them sitting here. They all had to make it out alive. "If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost." Tony glanced over at Melody, feeling his heart pound a little harder at the thought of her getting hurt through all of this. "There's gonna be blood on the floor."

"I got no plans tomorrow night." Steve spoke through a smirk, making the little family of Steve, Tony, and Melody all share a little smile.

"I get first crack at the big guy." Tony nodded, getting back to business. "Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."

"That's true." They all looked over to see Vision walking toward the ship with an emotionless expression. "He hates you the most."

Tony turned around to look at him once he had made it onto the quinjet, and Melody let out a little chuckle. "Hey, earth's mightiest heroes," All the Avengers turned to look at her, waiting for what she had to say. She was so calm. Calmer than she had been in any of these fights, and it was kind of freaking them all out. "For once, can we all just be quiet and watch the sunrise before we go into battle."

They all simply smiled at her before turning their heads to the sun. Melody put her head back on Clint's shoulder, feeling so relaxed. They all slipped into that silence again, but this time, it was more of a beautiful silence. One where there was nothing to say because all of their love for each other was already obvious.

When the twins finally joined them, they all piled into the quinjet without saying another word, knowing everything else from here on had to be about the mission. Clint took his spot in the pilot chair while Tony sat next to him in the copilot. On the right side of the ship, Melody, Thor and, Bruce stood together, and on the left side, Wanda, Pietro, and Vision stood together. They trusted them as much as they could, but they were all still cautious of each other for good reasons. Steve stood in between Tony and Clint, ready to give one of his famous speeches.

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't." Melody's eyes drifted over to Wanda just as Wanda's did. They locked eyes, and there was something there. Something that understood each other. When Melody looked at her, she saw something in her that reminded her of her when she was younger. She offered her a little smile, and Wanda gave her a small one back.

"So, our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not gonna happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done." Clint thought again of the promise he made to Melody. Deep down in his gut, he knew he wasn't going to keep that promise because there was no fighting this feeling of dread that he wasn't going to make it. "We find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us." No matter what, he was going to do his job. "Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

* * *

Pietro ran to the police station to get their help, Wanda went to the streets to control the minds of the citizens, Thor and Bruce went underground to find Natasha, Clint found a high clock tower to perch in while Steve and Melody helped with the evacuation, and Tony and Vision took their places to face of Ultron at the church.

Once Tony stepped inside, he heard Ultron's voice. "Come to confess your sins?"

"I don't know." Tony scoffed, trying to show Ultron he wasn't afraid of him. "How much time you got?"

"More than you." There were steps behind Tony, and when he turned around, Ultron was standing behind him, but it wasn't the Ultron he remembered from their last fight. He was so much bigger now making him even more menacing than before.

"Uh," Tony drew the sound out, not sure what to say to him. "Have you been juicing? Little vibranium cocktail?" Ultron just continued to stare at him, trying to intimidate him, but even though this invention scared the hell out of Tony, there was no way he was going to show it. "You're looking…I don't want to say 'puffy' – "

"You're stalling to protect the people." Ultron scoffed.

Tony shrugged to him. "Well, that is the mission. Did you forget?"

"I've moved beyond your mission." Ultron spoke as if he was better than the Avengers which in his mind was true. "I am free." Then Ultron's machine came out of the ground. Tony staggered back, terrified for what was going to happen next. "What?" Ultron asked, knowing there was no way he was trying to hide his fear now. "You think you were the only one stalling?"

"There's the rest of the vibranium." Friday reported to Tony. "Function, still unclear."

"This is how you end, Tony. This is peace in my time."

In an instant, Ultron's robots began to pop out of the ground, one right next to Melody on the street. It grabbed her leg, and tried to drag her down. "Steve!" She called out.

Steve almost ran to help her, but when he saw her hand outstretched, he knew what she really wanted. He tossed the shield to her just in time for her to chop off the robot's hand in one powerful blow. She then moved to the robot's head and crushed it with her combat boot. Steve stood there, looking at her with his jaw wide open. "Come on, Cap." She called while jogging up to him before throwing him his shield. "We got people to save!"

He watched her hurry off continuing to help people. "Go! Get off the bridge!"

Steve blinked a couple of times before it kicked back into him what they were doing. He turned around to the panicked citizens before urging them again. "Run!"

Melody could see Wanda blocking citizens from the robots with her energy as Clint shot down as many of them as he could. She let the citizens get away, risking herself getting show with one of the robot's blasters. Melody ran after her, shooting the robot three times before it finally collapsed. Wanda looked up at her, confused at her sudden help. They were wrestling on the ground an hour ago, and now she was protecting her. Melody could see the confusion on her face before offering a smile and a hand. "Come on, kid. Those robots aren't gonna fight themselves." Wanda took her hand with a little smile, and in a weird way, she kind of felt like she was passing the baton. If this worked out, and she and Clint really did retire, she would love to have someone to be the badass female with her own version of the freak gene.

Tony flew off to go check on how the rest of the team was doing just as Vision flew down to come face to face with his maker. "Ultron."

Ultron slowly flew up to him in shock. "My Vision. They really did take everything from me."

"You set the terms." Vision spoke while shaking his head at him, wanting to give him a chance to change before it all became too late. "You can change them."

"All right." Ultron immediately moved to grab Vision's shoulders, but Vision moved to his head, managing to shut him out of the internet.

Everyone else in the streets were fighting, Thor still in the underground lair, waiting to get Bruce and Natasha out safely while fighting off the robots down there that he could. That's when the ground began to shake and part. Melody looked from the bridge she had managed to get back on to see Clint and Wanda jump up onto their slab of land. And that's when she noticed, they were slightly higher than they were before. Like they were going up.

Tony could feel the rumbling of the earth, panicking him, wanting to know what the hell was going on. "Friday?"

"Sokovia is going for a ride." She sounded terrified as she said it which matched Tony's mood.

"Do you see...the beauty of it?" Everyone began to look around, trying to find where the voice was coming from. All the Avengers stopped what they were doing, knowing Ultron's voice even if they couldn't see him. "The inevitability. You rise, only to fall." Tony flew to the land that was now rising into the sky, trying to find a way to stop it. "You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword. And the earth will crack with the weight of your failure." Melody and Steve looked to each other as they stood on the bridge, wondering about all the people they lost just from the split of the land. "Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing." Wanda hugged a nearby truck while Clint continued to shoot off arrows like Ultron wasn't even talking. "When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world...will be metal."

Melody felt so much anger after he was done talking, she was practically shaking. One of Ultron's robots was advancing towards Melody and Steve's backs, so Steve threw his shield at it without turning around, and Melody one of her daggers. She then put a hand to her earpiece, while walking the rest of the bridge, trying to get her head wrapped around a game plan. "Friday, talk to me."

"The vibranium core's got a magnetic field. That's what's keeping the rock together."

Melody looked down at the earth again, starting to think about all the people she had to save, and if that meant she and her baby weren't going to make it out alive. "If it drops?"

"Right now," Friday started out, sounding nervous for the whole team. "The impact can kill thousands."

"Once it gets high enough?" Melody looked around at the sound of Tony's voice, wondering exactly where he was right now.

"Global extinction." Melody turned back around to look at Steve, taking in a shaky breath.

Steve took a deep breath, most likely about to give her some assurances when one of Ultron's bots knocked him off the bridge. "Steve!" Melody yelled out. In that second, Melody didn't even think about it, she jumped, and landed right next to the car the robot pushed Steve to. She picked up the robot and threw it off the floating rock before taking deep breaths.

She turned to look at Steve as he stood there with his jaw dropped. "You landed in the right place."

Honestly, Melody hadn't even noticed yet. She was too distracted with making sure Steve was safe. "Congrats, baby." She heard Tony tell her in the earpiece, making her grow a huge smile on her face. "I knew you could do it."

Melody couldn't fight her excitement or smile, but they had to continue on with their mission. "Tony, you worry about bringing the city back down safely."

Melody extended her hand to Steve while he was also giving her a proud smile. "The rest of us have one job," Steve continued on once he was standing up. "Tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed...walk it off." Pietro stood there for a moment after the Captain's message, but he then shrugged, knowing they had to defeat Ultron once in for all. He let out a little breath before hurrying through the streets again.

As the fight continued, Wanda was on the fritz. She ducked behind a car as one of the robots hurried towards her, and Clint flipped over the car to shoot an arrow in its head. Wanda just continued to hyperventilate, leading Clint to pull her into a random house before the robots caught up to them. Clint poked his head out the window as Wanda put her knees to her chest while continuing with the fast, shallow breaths.

"How could I let this happen?" She whispered to herself. Clint turned around to look at her, the thought of Melody coming to his mind. He thought of all the times they comforted each other through their panic attacks.

"Hey, hey, you okay?"

"This is all our fault." She cried out. Clint gave her a frown. She really did remind him of Melody. That's how Melody would think of it too. Maybe that's why she also pissed him off sometimes.

"Hey, look at me. It's your fault, it's everyone's fault. Who cares? Are you up for this?" She just continued to look up at him with panic in her eyes. Are you? Look, I just need to know. Because the city is flying." Once Clint said that, he realized that nothing really surprised him anymore, but it was still the weirdest thing he could ever imagine. "Okay. Look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense." One of the robots shot through the wall, and Clint shot right back with an arrow, not missing a single beat before turning back to her. But I'm going back out there because it's my job. Okay? My pregnant fiancé is relying on me to get out of this alive, and so is the rest of my family."

Wanda just watched him talk, knowing how selfish she was being. She couldn't have a break down now. Not when everyone out there was depending on her and the rest of the Avengers. "And I can't do my job and babysit. It doesn't matter what you did or what you were. If you go out there, you fight, and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good. I'll send your brother to come find you. But if you step out that door, you are an Avenger."

Wanda sat there, letting everything he said truly sink in. He was right. She had to make a decision. She could fight for what was right or she could sit here and cower. "All right. Good chat." Clint stood up and continued to the door, leaving Wanda to continue to think. That's when he took out Melody's new invention. Clint's new and improved arrows. "Yeah, this city is flying." He muttered before kicking the door open and continuing fighting.

* * *

Steve ran to the bridge, hurrying to a car that was about to fall off. Melody ended up landing right by the car once Steve got there. They both grabbed hold of the bumper and began to pull it up, but once they did, the bumper separated from the car and it began to fall. They stood there looking at the bumper in their hands, panicked that they had just sent someone to death. Thor then jumped down after the car, grabbing the woman in the car and throwing her up to the bridge.

Melody jumped down, grabbed onto the road of the bridge for support and gripped the woman's hand as tight as she could while Steve managed to fight off a few robots. "You're okay." Melody promised the woman as she screamed. "Just look at me." The woman made eye contact with Melody as she gave her a little smile. "You're gonna be fine." Melody promised again, and that time, the woman truly believed her.

Melody then felt someone grab onto her forearm, and when she looked up, she had never been so grateful to see her great uncle in her life. "I've got ya." He promised as he pulled them up.

Once they were on the bridge again, Melody began to check the woman for injuries when a robot began to hurry towards them. "You can't save them all You'll never – " Ultron spoke through the robot just before Steve threw his shield into its chest, and threw him off the bridge.

Melody stood up next to Steve, watching as the robot fell to its death. "Never what?" Melody called after it. "You didn't finish!"

Thor then came back onto the bridge with an extra car he caught. The three then began to walk back into the city side by side. "What?" Steve scoffed to Thor. "Were you napping?"

Melody then rolled her eyes at the two. "Can we focus on saving the world pl – " She then let out a groan of pain while clutching onto her stomach. "Oh, come on." She whispered to herself. The freak gene really did kick in at the worst possible times.

"Melody!" Both men called, showing up on the opposite sides of her.

"I'll be fine." She whispered to them. "The physical activity is just not helping with the baby."

"Baby?!" They both screamed at the same time.

Oh shit. Melody stood back up with her hand resting on her stomach as the pain died down. They were both looking at her with wild eyes, Melody deciding to take the cute route. She gave them a little smile before throwing her hands up. "Surprise." Steve just gave her an irritated look as Melody just kept up her smile.

 _ **Gigi103: I hope you liked Clint's reaction and all the action scenes. I always feel like I'm really bad at writing action scenes, but if you like them, that's good enough for me! And yes, Melody is still going to kick ass pregnant or not.**_

 _ **Princess2017: That's true! I really wish Melody could pick both since both people on both sides mean so much to her, but she has to do what she thinks is morally right. I think you and everyone else is going to like what ends up going down in Civil War. It's probably going to be my biggest story yet.**_

 _ **sthestrange: Wow! I'm so glad you liked it, and I can't believe you finished it that fast, and that you were able to put up with me through all of this lol! And your English is perfect! Thank you so much for your review!**_

 _ **My wifi went out right when I was about to upload this chapter so I'm sorry this is going up late. I meant to put it up much earlier, but I had to go back and edit it all over again. So, if there's some mistakes in this chapter, that was from me trying to edit as fast as possible. Steve and Thor now know about the pregnancy! Again, you guys have me pumped for Civil War and I LOVE IT! Keep letting me know what side you think Melody's going to end up on. You can also let me know who you want to find out about the baby next, and what you want the baby to be named and/or the gender. You can let me know in the reviews or you can PM me! Remember to review, and I'll see you next time!**_


	9. Together

"And you're fighting?!" Steve screamed out at Melody, furious that he didn't know his battle buddy was pregnant. And he just let her jump off a bridge!

"I don't see the problem with it." Thor spoke through a shrug. Steve turned to him, his eyes burning with anger. "Plenty of our warriors on Asgard have fought while pregnant, and it did not damage them or the baby."

"See." Melody added while wrapping her arm through Thor's with a big smile on her face. "Everyone ended up fine."

"They're gods." Steve kept his irritated face with her, breaking apart all the syllables he could.

"Yeah, well," Melody threw her hands in the air, trying to come up with whatever argument she could. "I'm a genetically manufactured super soldier, isn't that like the same thing?"

"No!" Steve yelled at her while moving closer to her. "Does Clint know about this?"

Melody's eyes got wide when she realized what he asked. "First of all, I don't need a man to tell me what I can and can't to." Steve let out a big sigh. He didn't mean it that way, but that was obviously where Melody was going to take it. "Whether the man is my fiancé or my uncle, none of them have control over my decisions." Melody crossed her arms, trying to show there was no way anyone could talk her out of this. "And yes, he does know."

Steve was about to open his mouth to continue to argue with her, but as he stared down his niece, he remembered how damn stubborn she was. They could be here all day, and they had people to save. Steve let out an angry sigh before closing the gap between the two. "If anything gets too serious, you stay behind me, got it?"

"Understood." Melody nodded, her arms still crossed, glad she could convince him not to argue with her.

Steve rolled his eyes at her, wishing he could convince her that this could end up bad, but this was Melody they were talking about. "Come on, Thor." Steve muttered under his breath before hurrying off with the two following him.

Thor leaned into her as they walked off. "Nicely done." He whispered it just low enough so Steve wouldn't be able to hear, and Melody could give him a cheeky smile with Steve's back turned to them.

* * *

Natasha and the Hulk had just joined the fight, the Hulk smashing everything he could, and Natasha testing out her new weapons. They were on one end of the flying rock, and Steve, Thor and Melody were on the other. Melody flipped over a border of rocks to avoid shots from the robots, making Steve's stomach tighten in nerves. Thor threw his hammer, and brought it back to him just as Melody made it to the men's side. Steve tossed his shield in the air, giving Thor the chance to hit it with his hammer and take out robots standing in a perfect line.

Thor then flew in the air, throwing one of the robots into a nearby gas truck. "Thor!" Melody scolded before hurrying out of the way and ducking down. She could feel the heat of the fire above her, and she saw it managed to take out a few of Ultron's bots, but she was still pissed. When she stood up, she waved her arms at him angrily. "I'm carrying precious cargo here!"

"You could have jumped!" The two began to argue while Thor was still in the air, and Melody was on the ground.

Ultron looked around as he flew through the city, noticing how much damage Thor was causing to his bots. "Thor," he spoke before flying in his direction. "You're bothering me."

He then grabbed Thor and began to drag him away. Melody let out an irritated sigh, knowing she had to go after him. "Son of a bitch." She cursed under her breath before launching after them, but one of the robots grabbed her and threw her back down on the ground. "Oh," Melody scoffed before plunging her dagger into its head and pulling it out quickly, leaving it powered down on her body. "Fuck off."

* * *

Clint was getting surrounded, he was shooting off as many arrows as he could, but he needed a partner in this. He usually had Natasha, but he honestly had no idea where she was right now. The robots began to close in on him, making him have a slight panic attack. It was looking like he was going to have to break a promise to Melody for the first time.

Then Wanda threw the doors to the house open, taking out all the robots she could with her red energy. She was crushing them with her power and throwing them into the ground, giving Clint a chance to get up and continue with the fight. Once they had gotten all the robots in their threatening area, Clint gave her a little smile and a nod, glad she finally decided. "Alright," he spoke into the radio as they walked, making sure to look around to make sure there were no straggling robots. "We're all clear here."

"We are not clear!" Steve yelled in the radio. Thor had left them so they were stuck fighting off the swarming robots when they really needed either a god or an extra hand. "We are very not clear!" He shoved his shield into one of the robots, and jumped up, kicking it all the way through it, severing its head.

Clint picked up into a jog, afraid of Melody being in the middle of that fight. "Coming to you!"

That's when Pietro sped past him, letting the wind blow up Clint's jacket as he picked up Wanda. "Keep up, old man!" Then in a flash, they were gone, sending debris in Clint's face. Clint brought up his bow, keeping Pietro's blur in his sight while letting out an angry sigh. "Nobody would know. Nobody." With another angry sigh, Clint tucked his arrow back into his quiver before walking after them. "'The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him.'" He was beginning to think of how he would get out of killing him without disappointing Melody. "'Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already.'"

* * *

Natasha had finally gotten onto Melody and Steve's side of the rock, Melody looking so thrilled once she finally saw her best friend. Melody kneed the nearest robot she could in the head, letting the mechanics fall apart on her body when Steve tossed his shield over to Natasha once he saw she was getting surrounded. "Romanoff!"

"Thanks!" She called, using it to block off one of the robot's power.

Melody looked over on her other side while fighting, seeing that Pietro and Wanda had showed up to the scene, taking down the majority of the swarm once Natasha and Steve took down the last one coming for her.

Once they were sure there was a lull in the attack, she ran up to Wanda and Pietro with fear on her face at the fact that she hadn't seen Clint. Her eyes went to Wanda, wanting to trust her, but it was hard knowing everything the two did to the team earlier. "Weren't you with Clint? Where is he?" She grabbed onto Wanda's arms, holding onto them tighter than she meant to. "Is he okay?" Pietro moved trying to get her off of Wanda despite his shot arm, but Melody wasn't going to let go until she knew where her fiancé was.

"Melody!" Melody let go of Wanda's arms to turn around and see Clint.

She hurried to him, almost collapsing in his arms as he held her as tight as he could. "Oh my god!" Melody yelled, pulling away from him slightly so she could look at his face. "I thought you were…I didn't…where…"

"Hey," Clint spoke, catching her attention with one word as tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Melody Buchanan Barnes, when have I ever broke a promise?"

Melody didn't waste any time to pull his face into hers. When they pulled away, Melody placed her hands on his face and breathed out her worries. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"I won't." Clint told her with a slight laugh before placing a hand on her stomach. "Not with junior in there."

"Junior?"

The two froze, completely forgetting about the coms being on. Meaning Tony now knew about Melody's pregnancy. And so did everyone else around who didn't already know. "Tony!" Melody exclaimed in the most innocent voice she could manage, hoping that would get her out of his anger. "You are looking so good for your age."

Tony had to pause for a moment, trying to collect all of his feelings before speaking. "After we save this city, you are in so much trouble."

Melody sighed while looking to everyone else who now knew. "Yeah, I figured that."

The group tried to forget that awkward interaction and move all the survivors into an abandoned store to protect them from the next attack. "The next wave is gonna hit any minute." Steve announced as him, Melody and Natasha walked out of the store to try to find more survivors. "What do you got, Stark?"

"Nothing great." Tony sighed out through the coms. "Maybe a way to blow up the city." Tony thought about probably the only plan that would work, knowing he would have to stay behind for that, and he wouldn't be able to meet his granddaughter or grandson. "That'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."

Melody took a deep breath, thinking about everything that happened in New York all over again. She wouldn't let that happen again. Ever again. "We asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're gonna have to make a choice."

"Not a choice that's going to cost you your life, Tony." Melody was starting to get hysterical, and the two could hear it in her voice. "Not again."

"Cap, these people are going nowhere." Natasha spoke, bringing Melody back into the conversation between the three of them. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..."

"Not till everyone's safe." Steve insisted.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" Melody asked while shaking her head, the reality of what they had to do sinking in. "There's no math there."

Steve turned to her, his eyes burning with fury at their thoughts. "I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."

"We didn't say we should leave." Melody muttered, processing what she was actually saying. All of them would die. Her unborn baby wouldn't even have a chance, but the world would be safe. Lila, Cooper, Kim and Barney would be safe.

"There's worse ways to go." Natasha agreed with a shrug before looking out at the gorgeous morning sky. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff." They all turned quickly at the sound of a voice they all knew come through their coms. "It's about to get better."

That's when the helicarrier came right into their view. Clint walked out of the store at the commotion, seeing the ship with a smile coming to his face. "Nice, right?" Emily asked, Melody and Clint both getting wide smiles as he joined her. "Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends."

"She's dusty," Nick spoke, coming back into their earpieces. "But she'll do." Slowly, Wanda and Pietro came out of the store in awe while all the citizens went to the window in shock.

"Fury, you son of a bitch." Steve spoke in almost a whisper while shaking his head.

Fury let out a whistle before responded to Steve, deciding to keep the joke up. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

The helicarrier's lifeboats then came out, going towards the land. Pietro had a little smile on his face while Melody and Clint ran back to the store to help escort everyone on the ships. "This is SHIELD?"

Steve stood there, continuing to watch with a proud smile on his face before looking to Pietro with a slight nod. "This is what SHIELD is supposed to be."

His smile got just a little wider, knowing that for once, he was actually helping and making the difference he always wanted to make. "This is not so bad."

Melody hurried out of the store with the first group of people when she noticed Ultron's bots were coming right for the helicarrier. "Oh crap." She whispered before pulling out her gun and training it on them. That's when Rhodey came out of virtually nowhere, taking out every single one of them.

"Yes!" He yelled out through their coms. "Now this is gonna be a good story!"

"Rhodey?!" Melody didn't think she had been so happy to see him in her life before.

"That's right, Melly Kelly." She began to laugh at his nickname for her before continuing with the evacuation.

Tony flew by him, a smirk on his face as well. "If you live to tell it."

"You think I can't hold my own?"

Melody pushed her earpiece to her ear while loading everyone on the boat. "If we all get through this alive, I'll hold your own."

"You _had_ to make it weird." Rhodey whispered.

Melody couldn't help but smile no matter how annoying he could be. "Shut up, Rhodes." The crew was running back and forth, getting everyone they could save, the Avengers helping as well before remembering, they still had to meet Thor.

* * *

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron asked while gripping Thor's throat. "I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that."

"I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast..." His voice was getting hoarse, but they just needed a little more time. "I am running out of things to say!" He noticed Vision behind Ultron, giving him a little smile and a nod. "Are you ready?"

Right when Ultron turned around, Vision knocked him with Thor's hammer, sending him flying back a few hundred feet before tossing the hammer back to Thor. Vision had a thinking look on his face while looking to Thor. "It's terribly well-balanced."

"Well," Thor spoke while moving to a swinging motion. "If there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so..."

"I got it!" Tony suddenly spoke while continuing to take out robots. "Create a heat seal."

Melody looked up, stopping what she was doing to add onto his theory. "That could work. You could supercharge the spire from below."

"Running numbers!" Friday reported just as the first boat made it into the helicarrier. "A heat seal could work with enough power."

"Thor!" Melody yelled into her earpiece before finding a car she could hotwire so she could get to him. "We got a plan!"

"We're out of time!" Thor yelled back to her, making Melody stop. "They're coming for the core."

Melody nodded before coming up with her answer. "We'll have to do it quick then."

"Rhodey," Tony commanded while switching his gear to fly toward the church. "Get the rest of the people on board that carrier."

"On it." He reported before flying off.

"Avengers!" Tony called out as Melody urged for Clint to join her at the car. "Time to work for a living."

When he got to her, he checked her body, mostly the stomach area in fear that something was going to happen to their baby in all of this. "Are you good?"

"Yeah." She promised before climbing into the driver's seat. "Get in!"

Pietro and Tony were there first with their faster advantage, all of them taking out as many robots as they could. When the robots that escaped were trying to make it out, Steve got there just in time to take them out with his shield. Wanda then showed up, Pietro going to her immediately to check on her right when Melody and Clint pulled up and jumped out of the car.

Tony looked around, knowing there were only two people missing. "Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'. You know what happened to Melody." Melody gave him a quick angry look, but Tony ignored it.

"Relax, shellhead." Natasha was not amused as she spoke, especially since she was taking down multiple cars on her drive over there. "Not all of us can fly."

She almost took out Clint and Melody's ride when she pulled up the in a dump truck and jumped out. She quickly jogged to the rest of the group. "What's the drill?"

"This is the drill." Tony spoke while pointing to the core before looking back to Natasha. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose." He then turned his attention back to Melody. "And we make sure Melody doesn't die since she avoided the truth with almost everyone."

Melody let out a large sigh before looking back to him. "I will make it up to you, I promise!"

Hulk finally joined the group just as Ultron flew down, across from them, near the church. Thor moved forward, tired of everything Ultron had been putting them through. "Is that the best you can do?!" Ultron picked his hand up, and what seemed like a million robots began to advance towards them.

Everyone's mouth dropped at the swarm, not sure if they would be able to take out all of them. Steve turned to look at Thor, annoyance all over his face. "You had to ask."

"This is the best I can do." They all looked at him, feeling so much anger for everything he caused, deciding in that moment that no matter what it took, they would stop him. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," They all turned to Tony, knowing what he was going to say, and knowing that he was right. "Together." Hulk then let out a loud roar, daring them to continue.

The robots began running into the church, but everyone was ready. Clint shot off a bow into the first one that got even remotely close to him. Melody threw her dagger into one's head while shooting the other. Steve slammed his shield into as many as he could. Wanda ripped them all apart with her energy. Thor smashed every one of them he could with his hammer. Tony shot each one with the powers of his suit. Natasha shot and fought her way through each one. Pietro whizzed across the place, leaving just nuts and bolts in his path. Hulk slammed them all into walls, and Vision flew around the group vaporizing every single one of them.

Tony then flew through the air, shooting ones that got particularly close to the rest of the team as Vision ripped the insides out of the one robot he was struggling with. Steve then flipped in the air with a spin to avoid one of them, giving Melody the perfect opportunity to throw a dagger in its head. Clint ducked as she pulled her arm back, preparing the perfect throw, giving Clint the opportunity to shoot one low to the ground. Vision then flew and grabbed one of the robots in the air, ending it quickly as Wanda threw him his next victim.

They all felt the heat of the lightening Thor brought down on them, but that was not stopping Hulk from ripping open one of the robots and going onto the next one on his back. Clint knocked one down with his bow, and Melody ended up jumping down on one of them, the weight of her boot crushing it into a thousand pieces. Tony helped Wanda demolish one robot with both of their energy. Pietro continued to whiz through the area, knocking out all the ones who came across him with a single punch.

Hulk then tore one apart with his teeth as Clint shoved his fist into one and ripped out its main frame. "Melody!" Wanda called. Melody immediately turned to her after pulling a dagger out of one of the robot's chest, ready for whatever she had to tell her. "Get down!" Melody fell to the floor as Wanda shot off her energy, and Melody chucked a dagger at the one robot standing behind Wanda. Once the coast was clear, Melody stood up, noticing Ultron had clashed with Vision above them.

Clint saw Melody distracted by what was above them right when a robot was charging toward her. "Melody!" Clint yelled before knocking her down so the robot would miss her. Clint then pulled out his gun, shooting the thing before it could get another crack at her.

Melody looked up at him just as he looked down at her, automatically checking her to make sure she was okay. "God," she whispered out, feeling like she hadn't been this close to his blue eyes in so long. "I love you."

"You should," Clint scoffed while growing a slight smirk. "I just saved your ass."

Melody let out a long eye roll and sign before pushing him off of her. "And there's the moment killer."

Vision then used the gem in his head to surprise Ultron and make him stagger back, and blow him out of the church. Thor and Tony followed him out, each of them using their various energies, rendering him almost powerless. Once they stopped, Ultron could barely stand up. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight – " Hulk then punched him so hard he went flying. After the remaining robots saw what became of their master, they all tried to make a run for it.

"They'll try to leave the city." Thor pointed out, knowing they were going to be gone before they could even make it off the rock.

"We can't let them, not even one." Tony spoke frantically, going to the only person he knew could handle it even if they couldn't. "Rhodey."

"I'm on it!" He announced over the radio right when Vision flew off after them to help.

Back in the church, the rest of the Avengers watched in awe at how fearless Vision was. "Okay," Melody spoke, breaking the silence of their shock. "He's good."

"We gotta move out." Steve spoke, ignoring her comment, knowing their safety was far more important than her humor. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked while turning to look at it. Melody shot him a look, really hoping he wasn't volunteering to watch it.

"I'll protect it." Both Clint and Melody turned to Wanda, giving her a worried look. Wanda couldn't watch it by herself. What if something were to happen to her? "It's my job." She clarified.

Clint gave her a tiny nod, but he was still worried. "What?" Melody asked, not understanding at all why she would do this by herself, finding herself just as concerned as Clint when she wanted to kill her a few hours ago.

"Come on." Clint whispered to her while putting a hand on her back and guiding her away from the core. Melody took a deep breath. For some reason, she felt like she should have been there to help Wanda. "We've _got_ to get you on a boat." Melody turned back to look at Wanda, feeling something horrible in the bottom of her stomach. They were all going to get away unscathed? All of this felt way too easy. Something else was going to happen, and she could feel it. "Nat? This way." The three of them piled into the car, but Melody still had this knot in her stomach, still terrified that something else was going to happen.

Pietro hurried to his sister, giving her a worried glance, but she just continued to blast the straggling robots. "Get the people on the boats."

"I'm not going to leave you here." He protested. He had the same feeling Melody had. More was coming.

"I can handle this." She took down another robot with complete ease, leading to Pietro shrugging, knowing she was qualified to handle it, but he still didn't like the thought of it. "Come back for me when everyone else is off. Not before." Pietro turned around, still not liking the idea, but he was going to do what she said. If he didn't, he wouldn't hear the end of it. "You understand?"

Pietro turned around to look at her, a smirk on his face from how commanding her voice was. He didn't know what happened to her earlier, but she was so much more confident now, and he had never been prouder. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."

Wanda let out a loud chuckle while shaking her head at her brother. "Go." And that would be the last word she said to him.

 _ **Howling2themoon: Thanks! I love Steve and Thor's reaction! I hope you liked Tony's!**_

 _ **Gigi103: I LOVE getting these long reviews from you! I've always loved Wanda too. She gets a lot of shit in the fandom, but really, she was doing what she thought was right at the time, and she corrected her mistakes. And the father/daughter relationship between her and Clint has to be one of my favorites. And Melody is kind of like a protective mom in this chapter which I love. The baby is gonna be so freaking cute. I honestly can't wait!**_

 _ **Alright guys, we're getting to the heart breaking part of the movie. Who else hates Joss Whedon for taking Pietro away from us too soon? And who just hates Joss in general? Anywho, I hope you all liked this chapter, and we've only got a few more chapters to go until the end of this story. After this, I think I'm finally gonna go back to my Teen Wolf story. It's been forever and a day since I updated it, and I really miss writing for Bree. If any of you have kept up with my other works, what do you think? Should I go back to Teen Wolf or is there something else you want updated? Let me know! Remember to review!**_


	10. The End of Ultron

"I know what I need to do." Melody turned to look at Clint, but his eyes were trained on the road ahead of them. She also turned to look to Natasha, but she looked just as lost as her. She slowly turned back to Clint, waiting for more to the proclamation "The dining room!" Melody slowly began to grow the faintest smile, realizing what he was telling her. They weren't done with this hero stuff just yet. "If I knock out that east wall, it'd make a nice workspace for Kim, huh? Put up some baffling. She can't hear the kids running around." He turned to look at Melody, giving her a little smile, hoping she was catching on to what he was saying. "What do you think?"

"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway." Melody shut her eyes at what Natasha said with that smile still on her face. She didn't get what he was saying, but Melody did.

Melody grabbed Clint's hand while it rested on the gear shift, giving him a soft, romantic smile. "No one eats in a dining room, anyways."

Natasha then looked back and forth at those heart eyes they were giving each other, finally realizing they weren't really talking about a dining room. Clint then shut off the car, looking back to Natasha, worried about her safety. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Yeah," Natasha spoke while nodding, hating when Clint would talk to her like one of his kids. "So, get your ass on a boat."

She hopped out of the car as Clint and Melody turned to each other with amused looks on their faces. "Come on, future Mrs. Barton."

"That has me thinking!" Melody grabbed onto his arm, pulling him back to her so they could discuss something before getting out of the car. "Local or destination wedding."

Clint rolled his eyes at her, thinking she was going to say something serious as Melody let out one of those bubbly laughs he remembered from ages ago before pulling her out of the car with him.

Melody immediately ran into the ship, assisting everyone with seatbelts and first aid, but Clint stayed at the front, trying to make sure they got everyone they could on the boat. In the background, he heard a mother mumbling about her son, and as he looked out at the destruction, he could see a small boy by one of the stores, looking panicked. As he looked at the boy, all he could think about was what would happen if Cooper or Lila were in one of these situations. What if one of them was left behind? Or the new baby? He would want someone to help them.

He looked back at Melody, watching her as she spoke fluently to the Sokovians, trying to help. He smiled just a little bit, loving how she looked while she was helping people. He turned back to where he saw the child, taking a deep breath before running to collect him.

* * *

Tony was still working on disabling the core while Thor and Steve were working on collecting everyone else. "Thor," Tony spoke through the radio. "I'm gonna need you back at the church."

Thor looked to Steve, breathing heavily, feeling exhausted. "Is that the last of them?" He asked him.

"Yeah," Steve answered him, quickly looking over to make sure Clint and Melody had made it on the last boat. He couldn't see either of them, though. He was sure they were assisting others. They had to be. "Everyone else is on the carrier."

"You know," Tony spoke hoping Melody was too distracted by the evacuation to pay attention to his words. "This works, we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe not." Thor whispered.

"Oh, my god." Melody complained, wishing the three of them could see her eye roll. "Am I the only one who's positive all of sudden? This is _going_ to work." She let out a deep sigh as Thor and Steve gave each other a worried look. Did she truly believe that or was she just trying to make herself feel better? "It has to." She whispered it more to herself than anyone else, hoping that slight reassurance would help her through this.

She then looked back to where she last saw Clint at the entrance of the boat. She quickly looked through the people, hoping maybe he was doing the same thing she was doing. "Has anyone seen Clint?" She asked, panicked as she pushed through all the people, trying to find him.

"I thought he was on the boat with you?" Steve asked, finding himself almost as scared as Melody. He then turned around, and began looking, trying to find him as well.

"He's not on the boat!" She told them frantically while pushing people to get off the boat and search for him.

When she made it to the entrance, she could see him far off, getting one of the kids. She let out a slightly relieved breath at the sight of him safe, but that's when she heard bullets. When she looked up, she noticed a rouge aircraft, knowing Ultron had to be the pilot. She looked back to Clint, feeling her breath halt in her throat. Ultron was ruthless, and he was going to kill Clint right here. Clint promised her he was going to make it. Melody looked back the aircraft and began running before she could even piece together what she was trying to accomplish.

The world seemed to slow down in those seconds. She could see every shift, and hear every bullet as they made their way closer to Clint. She just kept running. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop it. She knew she was probably going to get killed, but her feet were taking her to Clint before her logical side could kick in. "Clint!" She yelled out once she got close enough.

When Clint turned to look at her, his face was sheer panic. She was going to get herself killed. Once she got close enough, Clint grabbed her arm and threw her down, hoping to be human shield for her and the boy. Clint pushed his arms out, feeling like he was moving in slow motion just like Melody. Melody felt the rubble she was laying in, feeling her heart tightening, knowing Clint was going to kill himself for her. She slowly turned around to look at him, the two making eye contact right when the bullets showered on them. "NO!" Melody yelled out in sheer terror.

There was a long silence after the bullets passed. There was no wind. The air was still. Clint had no blood on him, so Melody slowly stood up, completely confused at what happened. She put a hand to Clint's chest, her eyes still focused on his intact abdomen. They then both caught something out of the corner of their eye.

Pietro was right next to them, his shirt covered in blood and holes all throughout his torso. The two completely straightened out, Melody putting a hand to her mouth as Clint pulled her close to him by her waist. Melody slowly looked over to see that he put an empty bus in the way of the bullets. She slowly turned back to Pietro, silently coping with the fact that Pietro just sacrificed himself for the two. He slowly gave them a smile, but it was obvious he was in pain. "You didn't see that coming." He muttered before falling over right in front of their feet.

Melody let out loud gasps as she looked at him, having the feeling that his death was her fault. "Melody!" Clint yelled at her, turning her around to look at him while gripping onto her arms. "Why the hell would you do that?" Melody's jaw dropped as she looked at him. His eyes were filling with tears as he looked at her, but Melody was just speechless. "Why the hell did you run out here?"

Melody continued to look up at him, collecting herself slightly before answering him. "You gave me a promise that you would stay safe, and…I gave a promise to myself knowing you couldn't be selfish."

Clint studied her for a moment. He should have been mad. He should have been furious with her for running out into certain death while putting not just herself, but their child at risk. But as he looked at her, there was no anger. There was only relief. He pulled her into a tight hug, and Melody cried out all of her fear onto his shoulder as Clint did the same with her.

Thor and Steve came rushing over, Thor going for the boy, and Steve for Pietro's lifeless body. Melody and Clint broke away, Clint tumbling a little bit, realizing a bullet simply scathed him. Melody put his arm around her shoulders and began to lead him into the boat. The boy was reunited with his mother, and Pietro's body was laid out on the floor. Melody and Clint both limped to an empty bench, Melody almost collapsing with Clint's weight.

She moved to sit down on the bench while Clint leaned to lay his head on her lap. Melody immediately stripped her belt off, and tied it around Clint's wound to act as a tourniquet. Clint looked up at Melody for a moment, the sun directly behind her, making her golden hair sparkle behind her. He smiled just a little bit before grunting. "It's been a long day."

He then coughed, leaning over to look down at Pietro's body. Once Melody was certain the tourniquet was tight, she did the same as Clint. She took a deep breath, knowing that this man gave up his life for their family. Melody looked back to Clint, running her hands through his hair, while taking deep breaths. Lila and Cooper would still have their dad. Their new child would have their father. Melody placed her other hand on her stomach before looking back down at Pietro, growing a little smile. She would be forever grateful for him because he gave her their child's father's life.

* * *

So, Hulk pulled Ultron out of the plane and threw him into the streets of Sokovia leaving him for Wanda. And she destroyed him while Vision finished him off. Tony and Thor destroyed the city before it could kill anyone else, and Bruce flew off and no one had heard from him since. Natasha was taking that part especially hard.

After what happened to Pietro, Melody and Clint felt responsible for Wanda, so she became the two's makeshift daughter. They invited her to stay at the barn with the rest of the family, but Wanda didn't was to intrude, so she stayed at the Avenger Tower. Every time Clint and Melody came into the city, though, they had to take her out for lunch and a nice shopping spree.

Natasha was lacing up Melody's wedding dress, finding it slightly tight since she was now six months pregnant. "When did you get this dress?" Natasha complained, trying as hard as she could to make it fit.

"I don't know!" Melody yelled at her while half turning around. "I saw it and I fell in love with it, so Tony bought it."

"And you didn't think to get it tailored?" Kim asked while stepping from behind Wanda, the baby weight completely lost.

"Yeah," Melody chuckled out while gripping onto the doorway even tighter to make sure she wasn't going to fall over from Natasha yanking on the ties. "Try explaining that to Tony."

"Got it!" Natasha yelled out as Melody finally let out the breath she had been holding.

When she turned around to look at her bridesmaids, they all smiled. "You look beautiful!" Wanda exclaimed to her while Melody gave her a smile. Melody didn't feel beautiful. She felt huge, and her feet were so swollen she had to opt for flats instead of heels. Out of all the times she pictured her wedding with Clint, she didn't picture being six months pregnant and swollen to the high heavens, but she was still excited to finally be Mrs. Barton.

"Thank you." She told them right when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!"

Both Emily and Tony walked in, and both of them were amazed at how their daughter looked. "Oh, Melody!" Emily cooed while enveloping her daughter in a hug. "You look ravishing!"

Tony stayed back, and just witnessed Melody and some of her favorite women talking excitedly. He couldn't believe today was the day when he was going to walk her down the aisle. He was happy for her, but that didn't make the feeling any easier. Happy came rushing into the room, full security guard mode, checking every area before hurrying to Melody. "Ms. Barnes," he spoke in a hushed whisper when he made it to her. "The ceremony is starting in ten minutes."

"I'm aware, Happy." Melody whispered back to him with a little smile. "Thank you."

Natasha looked to Tony, giving him a little smile before turning to everyone else. "Let's go ahead and get in our places."

Everyone all told Melody bye as Natasha led them out of the room, giving her a little wink before closing the door. Melody turned to look at Tony, giving him a little smile. "What do you really think?"

Tony sighed as he looked her over, not being able to fight his smile. "I don't think you've ever looked better."

Melody opened her mouth, wanting to debate with him, but Tony just pulled her in for a hug. He didn't want her to talk. He just wanted to hold her while he was still her father. While he was still her number one man. "I love you." He whispered into her ear.

Melody laid her head on his shoulder, hugging him as tight as she could. "I love you, Dad."

Tony pulled away from her as they both wiped little tears from their faces. "Don't you cry." Melody laughed to him while shaking her head. "Because I don't think I'll be able to stop if you do."

Tony laughed while trying to blink away what water was left in his eyes. "Don't cry off your makeup."

"You're kind of not giving me an option." Melody laughed out again as the two just put their foreheads together while letting out a few chuckles.

"I wish your dad was here." Tony suddenly spoke, his voice low and full of sorrow.

"Me too." Melody nodded, feeling the same way. She did wish her dad was here to see her, but she had the next best thing. And she couldn't picture anyone else walking her down the aisle but Tony Stark. "But you'll _always_ be my number one man."

Their eyes met, and Tony thought of the first time he held her again. Her eyes were still just as blue as the day she was born. And while he looked into those eyes, he had never been more proud of who she had become. "I better be."

Melody pulled away from him, and he held out his arm, ready to walk her down the aisle. She took a deep breath before taking his arm, and he guided her out of the green room and to the grand door of the church.

Emily walked Clint down the aisle, stepping in as his mom since she was the closest thing to one since his mother passed. Next was Wanda and Thor. Wanda was never one to be the center of attention, but when Melody asked, she decided to put that away for her. It was the least she could have done for her. Steve and Kim were next, feeling so giddy that this wedding was _finally_ happening. They each offered Clint a smile once they made it to their spots. The last of the bridesmaids was the maid of honor, Natasha, and the best man, Barney. Natasha usually wasn't one for the pale purple color Melody chose, but she would do anything for Melody. Barney offered his brother a wide smile, thinking of when Clint told him he was going to propose a year ago. He knew it then, and he knew it now, Melody was going to be the one he was going to grow old with.

Finally, it was Melody's turn. Tony was gripping onto her hand like he was losing her, and Melody wasn't giving him any complaints. As she walked, everyone in the crowd was giving her large smiles, but she was only trained on Clint's smile. All of her nerves melted away as she looked at him. She thought back to that smile when they saw each other from across the quad when he was sent to spy on her. She was with her friends, and he was with his, but the first time their eyes met, she knew she didn't want anything more than to be his friend. She remembered the smile that he gave her while they were laying in hospital beds side by side when she told him she loved him, but now wasn't their time. She thought about the smile he gave her when they were saying goodbye before she left to New York. The smile when he held her after saving her from falling to her death in New York. The smile after the kiss they shared under the exploding Iron Man suits like fireworks. The smile when she wrote her book, and he loved every bit of it, and promised to support her through every step of their lives.

When Clint looked at her, he didn't think he had ever smiled so bright. He couldn't believe that this girl he was sent to spy on five years ago would end up being his wife. And in her stomach, was one of the great things he was going to bring into this world with her. He turned to look at his children, smiling brightly to them, knowing their child together was going to be just as amazing as them. When he looked back to Melody, he felt like his heart was beating faster, only wanting her right next to him forever.

Barney looked back and forth between the two, leaning closer to Clint to give him his one last affirmation before their vows. "She's beautiful."

Clint smiled even brighter before glancing at his brother. "She is." When he looked back at her, she was only a few feet away from him. "She really is."

When they reached the end of the aisle, Tony looked Melody over one final time before giving her a kiss on the cheek and shaking Clint's hand. "Take care of her." Tony whispered to him just as he got close to his ear.

Clint clapped him on the back before whispering back, "With everything I've got." When they pulled away, Melody looked suspiciously between the two, but Clint just gave her a small kiss on the cheek before helping her up the podium steps.

The priest began the usual ceremony openers as Clint and Melody just looked to each other, waiting to get their own vows. When the time finally came, Clint went first. "Melody," he began with a soft smile. "After everything I've been through, it all seemed hopeless, but then you showed up." Melody let out a little sniffle, already feeling the tears begin to come out of her eyes. "You were the light in an otherwise bleak existence. I can't believe I've found someone who has loved me for who I am almost as much as she loves my kids." Melody let out a brief laugh as she looked over and Cooper and Lila, giving them a little wave. "I'm still not totally convinced she's not just marrying me for my awesome kids." The whole room let out a laugh with them, Clint finding himself lost in her eyes again. "But even if our world is filled with aliens, gods, and homicidal robots," Melody let out a loud chuckle at that joke before he continued. "And even if it seems crazy that we're bringing a child into a world where something that insane exists, I'm glad I'm taking it all on with you by my side." Melody let out another sniffle just as Clint whispered, "I love you," only low enough for her to hear.

Melody gulped, knowing she was next, wondering if she was going to be able to make it through this without crying like Clint did. Maybe she should have went first. "Clint, I started out as a completely sheltered rich girl, and now, I'm a genetically modified super soldier." The room again let out another laugh, but Melody knew she had to get this out before she full on cried. "You've taught me how to get over a hard past, and how to love someone else without any convictions. Your kids have taught me how to be a mother, and I promise to love each of our kids more than I love you." Clint pursed his lips while smiling and nodding, Lila and Cooper's laugh being the loudest out of them all. "You tell me that I'm your guiding light, but you're my arrow, always leading me straight and true if you have the right wielder behind it. And I know I've found the right one." Melody then nodded, whispering, "I love you," at the same level Clint had.

"Clinton Francis Barton," the priest continued, both Clint and Melody wishing they would be joined together already. "Do you take Melody Buchanan Barnes as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part."

"I do." Clint spoke in almost a whisper while slipping her wedding band on her finger just above her engagement ring.

"Melody Buchanan Barnes, do you take Clinton Francis Barton to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do." Melody said it slightly louder than Clint, but her voice was filled with happy tears before putting the deep dark purple ring on his finger.

The rest of the words the priest said were a blur because finally, after what seemed like so long, they were finally brought together in front of all of their friends and family for the rest of their lives. "You may kiss the bride."

They didn't waste a second, meeting lips in a deep embrace despite Melody's protruding stomach. Everyone rose from their seats, clapping as loud as they could, knowing no one deserved to be together more than those two. When the kiss was done, Lila and Cooper hurried to the two, hugging their legs. Clint picked up Cooper, and Melody, Lila, before looking back to each other. This was their family, and in just a few months, their family would go up by one more, and it couldn't be more perfect.

* * *

The chandelier's lights in the reception hall dripped down like water from a storm. It was mostly former SHIELD agents that surrounded the dance floor, and the wedding party table was filled with the original Avengers team. Wanda was teaching Vision how to dance, Emily and Rhodey were in the center of everyone, and Sam was flirting with every single woman he could. Then there was Nick Furry who was standing at the bar casually sipping on his drink. "It was a good ceremony." Tony told Clint and Melody with a nod.

"Yes." Thor agreed in his usual grand voice. "And the party is ravishing."

"Thank you, Thor." Melody laughed while noticing this was probably his fifteenth drink and he wasn't even tipsy.

"Yeah," Clint agreed while wrapping his arm around his now wife. "Thank you for using an adjective better than 'good'."

"Well, maybe I've seen better." Tony spoke while moving towards the two.

"You're an asshole." Natasha laughed out while shaking her head.

"Well, hey," Steve brought up. "One life moment down one more to go."

"Yeah," Natasha asked while leaning in, trying to squeeze what information she could out of them. "Are you sure you don't want to tell us if it's a boy or girl?"

"Positive." Clint told her matter-of-factly.

"Come on," Thor began as Melody just shook her head at the group. "Maybe just a little hint."

"It's going to be surprise." Melody told them before taking a sip of her water.

"Yeah, but," Melody rolled her eyes again, knowing Tony was going to be the most annoying out of all of them. "I'm too old to wait and so is your great uncle here."

"Melody and I are like three years apart." Steve told Tony with an eyeroll.

"Yeah," Tony agreed while rolling his eyes. "Three years apart _mentally_."

Tony and Steve began talking over each other to argue about the matter making Melody and Clint look to each other with an exhausted sigh. "This is why we're not telling them." Clint spoke, voicing Melody's opinion exactly as they clinked their glasses before taking a sip, letting this be a perfect end to a perfect night.

 _ **Guest: I'm sorry, I had to, but thank you for the compliment!  
**_

 ** _Gigi103: Oh, I know. Pietro's death had to be one of the saddest in the whole Marvel universe. I can't wait to write grandpa Tony! He's gonna be so cute with the baby! And yes, I will be writing a Civil War story which I'm super pumped about. It probably won't come out right away, but it will be coming soon!_**

 ** _Howling2themoon: It wouldn't be Tony if he wasn't upset and sarcastic about being one of the last ones to find out about her pregnancy lol! I hope you liked this chapter, love!_**

 _ **Hey, guys! I wanted to go ahead and get in one more chapter before I moved. I was hoping to finish the story by then since I don't know when I'll have wifi in the new house, but life got in the way! I may still get the last chapter in with how quick I wrote this one since most of the last chapter is going to be original and not a part of the movie. Anyways, we've got one more chapter left! I'm gonna put up a poll on my page on what story I should write next, and it would mean the world to me if you guys voted! It should be on my profile, and I set one up on Tumblr as well. If you don't follow me, its janaespecter14! I hope you all liked this chapter, and remember to review! See ya next time!**_


	11. The New Avengers

The Barton house was getting way too crowded for Melody's tastes especially at nine months pregnant. Tony and Steve had offered to stay at the house to help around, but they hadn't helped much. They were mostly just getting in the way. Then Natasha, Emily and Rhodey decided to come over to be closer for when Melody went into labor. Then Thor, Wanda, Vision and Sam all thought they should come over as well.

Melody could barely walk down the stairs with her big belly, and now she had to avoid everyone else on the stairs. The house was also insanely loud. Part of Melody just wanted to run out and drive somewhere for the weekend. She wasn't due for another week so it's not like anyone would be missing anything. Lila had just ran into Melody, Melody leaning over to hold her stomach at the blow. "Sorry, Melody." She apologized as quick as possible, knowing Melody's mood swings had been unpredictable lately.

"It's fine, sweetie." Melody mumbled, still holding onto her stomach.

"Can you pick up my doll?" Lila asked her in that sweet little voice it was hard for Melody to say no to.

"I'm sorry, I can't bend over right now, baby. I'll get daddy to help you, though." Melody looked over, wondering where Clint was. Yes, the house was big, but she could always manage to find him. But then again, there had never been this many people in her house. They just _had_ to bring the whole clan here to use as a safe house. Now everyone knew where they lived, meaning anyone could stop by at any time no matter what. "Clint!" She called out.

Melody continued walking through the house until she reached her best friend in the whole world right now. The black recliner in the living room. Natasha, Sam and Steve were all on the couch across from it as Melody was struggling to figure out how to sit down in it with her pregnant belly. "Do you need some help, Mel?" Natasha asked, eyeing her over, knowing she hadn't had problems with getting in the chair before.

"I'm fine." She grunted while rolling her eyes. "I'm not due for another week."

"Yeah," Sam spoke while giving her the same worried look Natasha was giving her. "But you're getting pretty big."

Melody shot him a dirty look before finally falling into the chair and leaning back. "I am fine."

"There's my little girl." Melody began to roll her eyes at Tony's voice. He was acting like such a mom lately, and it was exhausting. He placed a large kiss on the top of her head, making her cringe. She really didn't want to be touched. "You look like you're about to pop, Melly."

Melody clenched her fists quickly before unclenching them. "Yeah, well, I still have _another week_." Melody then looked around, noticing Lila's doll was still on the floor. "Where the hell is Clint?"

"You can be early." Steve brought up while giving her a little smile, finding himself insanely excited for her to give birth. He wasn't able to be there for his sister, but he was going to be there for Melody.

"Yeah," Melody scoffed while petting her bump, wishing she could just get some peace and quiet. "And I could also be on time."

There was also a faint cry coming from outside. That would be Nathaniel. Kim's baby. That's when Melody thought over again how insane it was that she was going to have two babies, four adults and two kids in this house soon. Thinking about it was enough to give her anxiety. Looking around this house was enough to give her anxiety. She knew that if one more person came up to her, telling her that she could give birth any moment, she was going to scream.

"Melody," Barney whistled out at the look of her. "Any day now you're – "

"WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?"

For the first time since everyone had showed up at her house, it was completely silent. No one dared to move because they were scared Melody was going to explode again. Everyone who was in the kitchen poked their heads out and even the ones who were upstairs. "Um," Barney had actually never heard her yell like that before. "I think I saw him out by the barn."

Melody then nodded and tried to get out of the chair, but it just wasn't happening. "Barney, help me up."

"Yes, ma'am." He hurried to her, Sam hurrying to the other side of her.

Once she was standing, she brushed herself off and gave them a smile. "Thank you." After she walked out the door, the house was still quiet, Tony, Steve, Barney and Natasha each moving to watch her out the window.

Melody threw open the barn door to see Clint sitting on a block of hay with a drink in his hand. He jumped when the door opened so fast, but relaxed when he saw it was only Melody. "I can explain!" He told her while placing his hand in front of him to keep her from yelling.

"Don't have to." Melody told him while shutting the door and locking it behind her. "I need a break from all those idiots too."

She moved to him, holding out her hand, confusing Clint. "What?"

"Give me the drink."

"Melody," Clint scoffed while shaking his head. "You're pregnant, you _can't drink_."

"Oh, come on," Melody sighed out while moving closer to him, but Clint just pulled the drink back to keep it from her reach. "What's one little sip gonna do?" She cried while stomping her foot a little.

"Melody Buchanan Barton," Clint laughed out while shaking his head. "You have truly lost your mind."

Melody let out a loud sigh before throwing herself to sit down on the hay next to him. "They're just all driving me _crazy_. Why do we have so much family?"

"I don't know." He sighed out while looking to the locked door of the barn, thinking of everyone in their house right now. "Who do you want to trade out?"

Melody let out a loud sigh before picking her head up from his shoulder. "I would say Tony, but he practically raised me." Clint nodded along with her. "And then there's Steve, but he balances out Tony which I _need_."

"Okay." Clint nodded, hoping she wouldn't come up with a clear answer on any of them.

"Emily's my mom. Rhodey's her boyfriend. Natasha's our closest friend. Barney's your brother. I love Kim too much." Clint chuckled a little before wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "We can't give up any of them, can we?"

He turned his head so his lips would stroke her hair before reaching her ear. "Afraid not."

"Well then, at least get them out of my house." She complained to him while he let out another laugh, this time placing his head on top of hers.

"The baby will be here soon and we won't have to worry about any of that."

"One more week." Melody breathed out.

"Yeah," Clint agreed, but there was something in the back of his mind telling him it wasn't gonna be a week. "Or sooner."

"I'm going to murder you."

Clint let out a loud laugh while picking his head up, making Melody stand up from anger. "Honey, I've had two kids, and if I know something, it's that I know kids can be early and late all the time."

"Or they can be on time!" Melody was getting so frustrated that no one was believing her. "I can hold the sucker in for a week, and I'm going to."

"Why is this such a huge deal to you?"

"Because it's _science_ , I don't get why science can't be exact."

"You're a scientist." Clint spoke, not making any sense of her ramblings.

"Because I'm scared, okay?" Melody felt like she was about to cry as she stood in front of her husband, finally telling him everything she had been scared of from the moment she saw that pregnancy test. "I'm really scared I'm gonna screw it all up." Clint sighed while grabbing her hand, moving her a little closer to him. "My mom left, my dad died, and I have no idea how to be a parent."

Clint pulled her into his lap as Melody sighed. "Baby," He laid his head on her shoulder, looking up into her face as Melody just looked down, thinking about it all going wrong. "You think I had any idea what I was doing when Cooper was born? Hell, I still don't know what I'm doing." Melody chuckled just a little bit, making Clint smile at the fact that he could make her laugh even when she was sad. "But I'm figuring it out, and you'll figure it out too." Melody nodded while wiping away a single tear. "Cooper and Lila are obsessed with you, and you're doing an amazing job with them." He slightly pet her hair, wanting her to know that through it all, just like he promised if front of all of their friends three months ago, he would be right by her side. "Don't worry about things that you can't change."

Melody got a big smile on her face as she turned to him. "I love you." She whispered before leaning in to give him a kiss. Once they kissed, she had remembered how long it had been since the two got intimate. "I love you so much." She spoke through the kiss, climbing up his lap so her knees were in his thighs.

"Oh yeah?" Clint asked, feeling his arousal heighten at the look of her in that position.

"Yeah." She moaned out, giving him a little high note in there, making Clint want to rip her dress off right now.

He carefully moved her to lay down on the hay, not wanting to hurt the baby, and then began to nibble down her neck. Melody gasped, enjoying every minute of his touch until she could feel something in between her legs. "Clint." She gasped. He continued down her chest, thinking she was just playing along. Melody rolled her eyes as he moaned, knowing she would have to spell it right out for him. "Clint, I think my water just broke."

Clint immediately stopped what he was doing, pushing himself up in his position to scan her face. "You're sure?"

Melody looked down, noticing some liquid roll off the hay. "Pretty sure you're arousing the baby out of me."

"Oh my god." Clint whispered. "Okay." Melody continued to lie there, wondering why he wasn't doing anything. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"Yes please."

"Okay!" Clint got off of her and began to help her up. He looked Melody in the eyes once she was standing, giving her a proud smile. "This is really happening." Melody let out a laugh, excited to meet the Barton baby while Clint pulled her to him, pressing his lips against hers in a sloppy, excited kiss before hurrying out of the barn.

* * *

It was a calm, quiet day at the hospital. There wasn't much going on, a few phones ringing here and there along with regular patient's daily routine was the most of their worries. That wasn't until what seemed like a dozen cars pulled into labor and delivery, all at the same time.

Clint was the first to get out of the truck, hurrying to the passenger seat while Cooper and Lila jumped out of the backseat. Then came Tony and Steve rushing to the passenger seat of the truck, wanting to get Melody out of there and into the hospital as fast as possible. Melody opened up her door, and saw all three men waiting at her side. "Nobody touch me." She demanded, causing all of them to take a small step back, not wanting to anger her more than they already had. "One of you get me a wheelchair."

Both Tony and Steve hurried off, giving Clint the chance to offer Melody his hand so she could step out of the truck. "Oh, thank god." Melody mumbled at the fact that she was Steve and Tony free for a few moments. She carefully grabbed Clint's hand, and Clint picked her up, making sure to hold her in his arms until Tony and Steve got to them with the wheelchair.

"This is exciting!" Thor proclaimed while Clint eased Melody into the wheelchair, trying to make sure he didn't go too fast or jerk her so she wouldn't feel any more pain than she had to. "We are getting a new Avenger!"

"We're not getting a new Avenger, Thor." Melody breathed out through the pain while holding onto her baby bump.

"Well, obviously not immediately, but in a year or two."

Clint began to wheel her into the hospital, but he managed to give Thor a strange look while doing so. "Do you actually think the baby is going to be fighting, Thor?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Melody gave a long eyeroll, knowing where this was going as everyone else hurried ahead to get a nurse. "On Asgard – "

"We're not on Asgard, Thor!" Melody suddenly snapped. She began to breathe heavily before reaching over to grab Thor's hand. "Thor, I love you, but my pain right now is too high to deal with your fucking questions."

"Cool," Cooper said while jogging to catch up with the three, Lila trailing behind him. "Melody said the 'f' word."

"Don't repeat that." Melody threatened while giving him a sharp point and cutting glare. She was about the have to deal with a newborn, she didn't want to deal with Cooper getting sent to the principal's office because of her now too.

"Melody!" Lila began excitedly. "Will you tell us if the baby is going to be a boy or girl _now_?"

"Honey," Clint spoke through a tired smile. "Just a few more hours, and you can hold your new baby brother or sister."

Lila seemed annoyed by Clint's answer, but it was enough to get her to stop asking. Melody picked her head up to look at him, giving him a deep smile. "God, I love you." He leaned down, planting the softest kiss on her head just as they made it into the entrance of the hospital.

Melody's doctor then came to them, making Melody's smile get wide with relief. "Oh, thank god."

"Alright, we're gonna get this baby out of you." He promised while giving Melody a pat on the shoulder. "If you'll follow me."

Clint immediately pushed the wheelchair down the hall, and everyone else began to follow, talking excitedly. He turned around, noticing the large crowd they had. "I'm sorry." He spoke while putting his hand out in front of them, letting Clint and Melody squeeze by. "The delivery room is family only."

They all nodded before taking another step as one. "Wait," the doctor whispered, almost to himself. He looked back at Clint and Melody, knowing they would often talk of various members of their family during appointments, but he had never realized their family was this big. "You're all family?"

"Yes!" They all spoke as one, even if Melody's came off as more of a whimper.

"Only _three_ family members in the room during delivery."

"Well then why didn't you start with that?" Tony asked the doctor angrily.

"I _need_ my mom." Melody spoke obviously while still holding onto her stomach.

"Obviously." Emily pushed her way through the crowd, and gripped Melody's hand once she reached her. "You thought I was going to let you do this without me?"

"Natasha," Clint spoke up while urging her to come over. "You're godmother."

"I knew it." Natasha sang out as she weaved past everyone as well, causing Tony to give her a dirty look.

Clint moved to Melody, trying to whisper in her ear while he nervously looked at the crowd. "Who's godfather?"

"What?!" Melody exclaimed while turning to look at him. "I told you to pick!" Clint thought back onto the conversation they had about it, realizing he never actually got a chance to pick. "Don't tell me you forgot!"

Or maybe he just forgot. "I might have."

Melody let out a manly groan before punching him in the arm. "Well, then you better pick now!"

Clint quickly surveyed the crowd, his eyes finally landing on the obvious choice. "Barney!"

"Yes!" Barney exclaimed while pumping his fist in the air and hurrying to that side of the room.

Clint began to turn Melody around in the chair, but as she looked around at the people who were going to the delivery room with her, she realized she was missing something. "Tony!" She called out, not being able to find him.

"I'm gonna be right out here, baby! Don't worry! You're gonna do great!" He called as she went through the double doors. As they swung back, Tony got a glimpse of Melody's worried face go down the hallway and looking back at Tony.

It broke Tony's heart as they wheeled her out. He continued to stand there while everyone else began to find a seat in the waiting room. This would be one of the life moments she would have to do without him, and he was scared. But the thing that hurt him the most was how scared she looked to not have him with her.

* * *

It was nearing midnight and they were all still waiting. None of them wanted to leave, and every now and then, someone would come in the waiting room to tell them how the dilation was going, but they would disappear right back down the hallway.

Tony was sitting while grasping a cup of black coffee in his hands, the bitter taste of it almost nonexistent as he thought of what Melody was going through. He didn't even notice Steve walking right up to him. "Do you think it's gonna happen tonight?"

Tony looked up at him, shrugging and leaning back into his seat as Steve took the empty chair next to him. "I don't know, it's up to the baby at this point."

Steve shrugged, knowing Tony was ultimately right. "I'm glad I could be here for Melody." Tony turned to look at him, confused about where this was coming from. "I never got to be there for my sister when she went through this, and she went through it twice." Tony shrugged, knowing he was the "twice". "It really sucks I couldn't be there for Maria, but I'm glad I'm here for Melody."

Tony got a small smile on his face, thinking back to the day Melody was born. "You know, I wasn't there when Melody was born?" Steve snapped his head to look at Tony, shocked that he wasn't the first one at the hospital that day. "Hospitals freaked me out at the time, and there was just something in the back of my mind telling me that if I was there when she was born, I was going to mess it up in some way." He then turned to Steve, offering him a soft smile. "That and I didn't really get along with Emily."

Steve let out a low chuckle. "No shocker there."

Tony then looked off in thought as the day came rushing back to him. "But when I held her the first time, I knew what everyone was talking about when they tell you that you fall in love with a baby at first sight." He turned to meet Steve's eyes again, noticing he was looking at Tony in amazement. "Through all the teenage heartbreaks, through all the 'I hate you's and all the 'don't talk to me's, I wouldn't take raising her back. Not a second of it." Tony then looked off with a thinking look on his face. "And how much I love Melody scares the hell out me because I know I'm gonna love this baby with that same intensity."

Steve was still staring at Tony, wondering just how he was going to react to this baby. He loved Melody so much. He would die for her, but the only baby he ever had experience with was his sister, but he was two when she was born. "Do you think I'll be good with the baby?"

Tony turned to look at him, a warm smile passing over his face. "Are you kidding me? You're Captain freaking America." Steve then offered him a chuckle, hoping he wouldn't mess this up. "If anyone can handle this, it's you."

Steve let out a relieving sigh, about to thank him until Clint pushed the double doors open. Everyone stood up when they saw him, noticing his face didn't look the same when he came to give them updates. He had an expression on his face that they couldn't really read, and they were all worried about Melody. Then Clint got a huge smile on his face, everyone all realizing that the Barton baby was finally here. "Do you guys want to meet my son?" Clint was giddy after asking the question as Tony and Steve turned to each other for a hug.

Everyone came up to congratulate Clint which just ended up in a big group hug. When they all broke away, Tony almost had to move Clint out of the way to get to the hallway. "I'm going to meet my grandson."

Steve then hurried after him. "And I'm gonna meet my great-great nephew."

Clint rolled his eyes before deciding to hurry after them. "He's my son!"

When they all got to Melody's room, they weren't as rowdy, not wanting to disturb the baby who was most likely sleeping. They also didn't want to disturb Melody who was probably insanely exhausted. Clint walked in first, slowly pushing the door open, hating the thought of waking up his son. Once Tony and Steve got a view into the room, though it was dark, they saw Melody with a deep smile. "Hi." She whispered.

Tony fully stepped into the room, wanting so desperately to see his grandson's face, but he was bundled up in various blankets. "Hi." Steve whispered back, but Tony just kept moving forward.

Steve let Tony step up right to the bed as he hung back for a moment, knowing this moment was going to be more important to Tony than it was going to be for him. "How are you doing, Mel?" Tony asked before looking her over. She looked amazing. She still had a fresh glow on her cheeks, and she looked so happy.

"I'm fine." She assured while shaking her head before looking back down at her son. "I'm just fine."

Natasha, Barney and Emily all slowly looked to each other, knowing they had to step out to leave the four alone. They all slowly waved to Melody before stepping out, and Steve took just a step closer to Melody and the baby while Clint moved to Melody's right to sit on the bed with her. "What's his name?" Steve asked, trying to get a good look at him.

Melody and Clint looked to each other, sharing a small smile before Melody began to move the baby, ready to hand him off to Tony. "His name is Anthony Pietro Barton."

Tony looked to the two with wide eyes as Melody placed the baby in his arms, finding it hard to believe that the two deemed him worthy enough to name their son after him. "Andy for short." Clint butted in, Tony's eyes drifting to Clint. "To avoid any confusion."

Steve looked over Tony's shoulder as he cradled the baby, Andy's eyes still shut tight, but her curled into Tony's chest. "He's beautiful." Steve whispered out while offering the baby his finger, Andy gripping onto it immediately.

Tony felt a little tear fall down his face while looking at the baby's face. He had Clint's nose and sandy blonde hair, but he had Melody's lips and her full cheeks. Tony already felt so much love for that little baby. As Melody and Clint watched them both with the baby, Melody leaned into Clint's chest, taking a long sigh. For the longest time, they felt there was just something missing in their family, and now, their family finally felt complete. Tony let out a little chuckle before finally speaking to Anthony Pietro Barton for the first time. "Welcome to the Avengers, Andy."

* * *

Melody was watching while everyone was wheeling in different supplies to the new Avengers facility. She was trying to make sure everything ended up in the right area. "Be careful with that!" She called out while one of her workers was moving a huge experiment pod. "It's the latest of Stark Technologies."

That's when Clint grabbed her from behind, making her jump, but he immediately fixed it by planting kisses all over her neck while she giggled. "It's looking nice." He whispered into her ear while looking around at the room they were in.

"Well yeah," Tony scoffed while coming up from behind them, followed by Steve and Thor. Andy was trailing behind Tony, finally finding himself able to walk while at least holding onto someone's hand. "Melody made it." Melody leaned into his arm for a hug while Clint went to pick up his son, noticing that Tony had dressed him in the black onesie with his full name in white print.

In nine months, Melody and Clint had been raising Andy, but now that Clint was retired from the business, he could spend some extra time at home while Melody worked on her dream project. Converting an abandoned Stark Technologies storage facility into an Avengers facility. From this, Melody would work more on logistics rather than being out in the field. She had her child to think about now. But that didn't mean that she would never go out in the field.

Melody joined Clint while she cooed at their baby, his toothy grin warming each of their hearts. "Can we get back to the important topic on hand?" Tony asked while turning back to Thor and Steve. Melody and Clint turned to them with confused faces, Andy seeming just as confused as them. "How did Vision pick up the hammer?"

Both Clint and Melody rolled their eyes before Clint handed Andy off to Melody. "I'm gonna go check on Natasha."

Melody watched him as he walked off, worried about Natasha just like Clint was. "Melody," Thor spoke, gaining her attention back to the three. "Would you like to walk me out and continue on with this conversation?"

Melody smiled and nodded before adjusting Andy in her arms and following. She wouldn't miss this debate for the world. "The Vision is artificial intelligence." Steve argued while looking back and forth and Melody and Thor for agreement.

"A machine." Tony added with a nod.

Steve looked to Tony, hoping that he was onto a theory. "So, it doesn't count?"

"No," Tony shrugged, just brushing it off. "It's not like a person lifting the hammer."

"Right," Steve pointed to Tony while Melody looked to Andy who looked confused about the debate, his little head going back and forth between the two men. "Different rules for us."

"Nice guy." Tony pointed out to him. "Artificial."

"Thank you!" Steve breathed out as a sign of relief for someone agreeing with him.

"He can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone." Melody turned back to Thor, happy they were talking about business rather than this silly debate. "It's safe with the Vision. And these days, safe is in short supply."

They let a silence pass over them, but then Steve took a breath. Melody looked to him, thinking he was going to say something important, but then something else came out. "But if you put the hammer in an elevator..."

"Oh my god." Melody whispered while shaking her head.

"It would still go up." Tony countered.

"Elevator's not worthy." Steve whispered while looking down in an almost trance.

Melody turned to look at Thor, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I'm sorry for them."

"It's quite alright." Thor spoke before moving to hold Andy one last time before he left. "I'm gonna miss these little talks of ours." He then looked back to Andy, giving him a big smile. "And this little guy."

"Well, I made a cute kid." Melody then shrugged as she looked at Thor playing with her son, hoping she would be able to convince him to stay. "You won't have to miss us if you don't leave."

Thor gave Melody a sad smile while handing Andy back to her, really wishing he could have stayed, but the universe was more important at the moment. "I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in position..."

"Triple Yahtzee." Tony spoke in a somber voice with a slight nod of understanding.

Steve turned to look back to Thor, hating that he was leaving too, but he had to do what he had to do. "You think you can find out what's coming?"

"I do." He nodded a little bit, and then continued to walk forward, making sure to clap his hand on Tony's shoulder as he passed by. "Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained."

Melody gave Tony a big smile while Thor moved forward, and the three leaders stood side by side with their new little Avenger. Thor was now in the middle of the lawn, giving one last smile to his teammates, and one last small wave to Andy before building up energy in his hammer and blasting off. Melody was frightened for a moment that Andy would get upset from the loud noise of him taking off, but he was completely mesmerized. He just kept looking up, amazed by what Uncle Thor could do.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance." Melody groaned while looking down at the facility's fresh cut grass now burned into an Asgardian pattern. Maybe she could use it to her advantage, though. It did look kind of cool. Even if that patch of grass was now ruined.

"I'm gonna miss him, though." Tony sighed sadly as the three then waited for Tony's self-driving car to come and pick him up. "And you're gonna miss me, and Melody when she goes back to the farm."

Melody scoffed a little before turning to look at Steve, wanting to tell him that he didn't have to worry about it. "I will still be here one week out of every month."

"Yeah," Tony scoffed at her, upset that she was ruining the moment. "And I'm gonna stop by too, but there's gonna be a lot of manful tears."

Melody rolled her eyes again while Steve just smiled. "I will miss you, Tony."

Tony turned to look at his uncle, always regretting not spending enough time with him or arguing with him too much on these missions. "Yeah?" Steve nodded as Melody just held onto Andy while looking back and forth between the two, hoping that maybe this would be their big family moment. "Well, it's time for me to tap out." Melody let out a loud sigh of disappointment as Tony leaned forward and grabbed Andy out of her hands, and looking to him with such excitement. He then pulled Andy into a slight hug before looking back to Melody. "Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up." Melody scoffed at that notion, hoping none of their houses got blown up ever again.

"The simple life." Steve commented somberly while watching Tony continue to play with Andy.

The two of them looked to Steve, Tony giving him an encouraging nod. "You'll get there one day."

"I don't know." He breathed out while Tony handed Andy to Steve, the baby getting happy from being moved back and forth between his family so much. Steve's eyes were focused on Andy who was getting a toothy grin just by looking at his mom. "Family, stability...the guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy-five years ago." Steve then handed Andy back to Melody, Melody finding it weird that the Steve who had always wanted kids had gradually been turning into a different person. "I think someone else came out."

Andy began to try to climb Melody. One of his favorite things to do. Luckily, Melody had already mastered how to continue a conversation while getting Andy down from his climb. "You all right?" She asked right as Tony's car pulled up.

Tony also wasn't going to get in the car until he knew the answer. Steve looked around at everything Melody had built. This place was amazing, and honestly, this was the only place he saw himself. "I'm home."

Melody and Tony smiled at him before Tony turned to Melody. "I will see you soon, and I love you."

"I love you too, Dad." Melody laughed out, but then Tony gave her a confused face.

"I was talking to Andy."

Melody pursed her lips at Tony while nodding as Tony tried hard to fight off a smile. "Of course you were."

Tony placed his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her in for a soft forehead kiss. "I love you."

Tony then got in his car, waving one last time at the three, Andy managing a wave of the arm rather than the hand. Tony smiled before driving off, the three watching him until he made it out of the facility.

* * *

Clint let Natasha talk it all out to him. She told him how she angry and hurt she felt, and now that she was done, all she could do was stare at the wall in front of her while Clint simply rubbed her back. He knew she wanted the quiet to let her thoughts just relax for a while. She would be fine after a while, but right now, it was still stinging.

Steve and Melody walked in, knowing Natasha was hurting, but Steve and Melody were going to do anything they could do to make her feel better. And the best way to do that for Natasha was to completely ignore her problem. "You wanna keep staring at the wall, or do you wanna go to work?"

Natasha smiled before turning around to look at the two. Clint did the same, but his smile was more from seeing his son. "I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall." Melody whispered, making Natasha's smile get bigger.

Natasha began walking toward the two with a smile on her face as Clint followed closely behind. "I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes."

Clint reached his arms out for Andy, Melody taking a deep breath before handing him over. "You got him?"

Clint turned to Melody as he held Andy with his two hands, giving her a big smile while wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I got him. Now go run your Avengers boot camp, and we'll be here waiting for you."

Melody got a deep smile on her face before leaning in and giving him a kiss. Andy made joyful noises at the sight of his parents, Melody giving him a quick kiss before following Steve and Natasha. She pulled out the tablet that was tucked under her arm, reading over it quickly.

"How do we look?" Natasha asked while nodding towards the tablet.

"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees." Steve scoffed while Melody rolled her eyes at his old man reference.

"We got some hitters." Melody explained to Natasha before looking back down to the tablet.

"They're good." Steve agreed once they neared towards the door. "They're not a team."

"Well then," Melody spoke, stopping at the door, not able to contain her excitement for them to finally see the training room. "Let's beat them into shape."

There were windows to the right of the room that Melody knew they were probably going to have to replace frequently. Then in the back, there were various obstacle courses and tests to train them with. At the back of the room, there was the iconic Avengers "A", and the floors were a reflective black marble Melody was really hoping she wouldn't have to replace. Marble was expensive. Steve turned to look at her, raising his eyebrows at how impressed he was with her design while Melody just shrugged at him.

Rhodey flew down to the ground followed by Vision, Sam and Wanda. Melody looked around at their team, and was damn glad she decided not to fully retire. There was no way she was missing out on all of these people getting their asses kicked. And she couldn't wait for them to take her orders.

Steve turned to look at his group. Sure, they weren't ready for combat at this very moment, but they had the potential, and he couldn't wait to be out in the field with them. This was the newest round of earth's mightiest heroes, and they were going to be trained by the best. "Avengers..."

 _ **Howling2themoon: Thank you so much for sticking by me through this series! I always love reading your reviews!**_

 _ **Gigi103: Sorry it took me so long to update, love, but we got a boy! Tony and Melody are my favorite relationship in this story, and I'm glad you like them too! Thank you so much for all your reviews, love! They mean the world to me! I hope you loved this chapter, and I can't wait for you to read Civil War!**_

 _ **So sorry this took me so long, but it's been a hectic few weeks with the move and transferring (especially with the sorority and cheerleading stuff, but we're finally getting it worked out, and I should be in a sorority by Friday. Not too sure about cheerleading yet. It should all be figured out soon. Fingers crossed). I hope you guys liked the last chapter of Smells Like Teen Spirit! And how obsessed are you with Andy? I put a poll on Tumblr as well, and the winner of the next story is continuing the Teen Wolf fanfic! It will be a while before I put the next story out. I'm not sure what it's going to be called, but as usual, I will post a chapter with that announcement in this story! Thank you all so much for sticking with me and reading this story! Love you guys!**_


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